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Built with Bird Poo Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Bunjil: Archived in accordance with my previous advice.

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Hidden : 5/12/2015
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Nauru House is a landmark 52-story building located in the Melbourne CBD. When completed in 1977 it became the tallest building in Melbourne. The land the building sits on was bought in 1972 at a price of A$19 million by the government of the Republic of Nauru as an international investment. You see Nauru got rich from Bird Poo!!!

Nauru is a small island country of only 21 square kilometers.It’s a deeply troubled nation that has been plunged into a nightmare scenario, struggling with a failed economy, health crisis and the destruction of its natural beauty. But life wasn’t always like this in Nauru. It’s the smallest island nation in the world and has a population of just over 10,000. Yet this former British colony, which lies approximately 4000km from Sydney in the Pacific Ocean, was once so prosperous that it was the envy of the entire world. And it was all thanks to bird poo.

The discovery of huge deposits of fossilised bird poo that had accumulated over 1000 years changed this nation forever. It made for an excellent fertiliser and precursor to explosives, sparking a huge mining effort. By 1980 Nauru had become the wealthiest nation on the planet, per capita. A monumental achievement for such a tiny, remote island.Rolling in riches, the locals abandoned their traditional lifestyles and turned to unhealthy food, alcohol and cigarettes. That was just the start of their problems. The phosphates ran out in the early 1980s, along with the nation’s primary income source. With so much of the island mined, all that was left was an environmental wasteland riddled with decay. The damage is so severe that 75 per cent of the country is uninhabitable.Many residents had quit their jobs and went on huge spending sprees including expensive holiday and shopping trips, and importing sports cars. “It was like every day was party day.” Eventually the government did invest some money overseas, to future proof the country but in the years that followed, the island went virtually bankrupt, due to failed investments and corruption.

This is a remake of a previous cache in this area, it is such a stranger than fiction story that it is worth retelling. Cache is only small, no room for trackables and please beware of office muggles from lots of directions. The best time to search for this cache will be on weekends and non office hours. Please replace as found with maximal stealth.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

zntargvp oveq cbb. ybjre yriry

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)