I want to acknowledge the beautiful, unceded land on which this cache is placed and pay my respects to its traditional owners, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples.
I don't visit Parliament House often enough, but every time I do I really enjoy it immensely. This cache will get you to visit our beautiful Parliament (again), and explore a bit further than normal.
Parliament House is open from 9am-5pm every day with the exception of Christmas Day. During sitting weeks till 6pm.
Parking at the Parliament is surprisingly easy when you come across Commonwealth Bridge you take the inside lane and head up the ramp to Capital Hill. There is underground parking, which is free for the first hour and plentiful.
This cache will have you go to 12 stages while visiting all areas of the Parliament House. Once done you will have all the information to calculate GZ as: S35° 1D. (C-J+1) (G-A) (I-3) E149° (E+L-K). (H) (L) (F-B)
GZ is not far away once you exit the Parliament again. The total walking distance, mainly in the Parliament House, is still a fair amount, so bring enough time. The cache will probably take you the better part of an hour, and while you are here you might wander off finding other interesting aspects of Parliament House you didn't know, in which case you will need to plan for much more than an hour.
The following Stages take you in order through Parliament House finishing on the roof:
Stage 1 (published coordinates) - Coat of Arms
Step in front of the Parliament House looking up you see the Coat of Arms and underneath the word 'Australia' held by a metal structure. Now take a closer look how the letters of the word Australia are fixed to the structure. They are floating in the air but are held by metal poles connecting them to the main structure (usually 1 or 2). In total how many of these connections on all individual letters to hold up the word Australia? = A
Stage 2 - The Great Hall
Walk through the Entrance Hall into the Great Hall. Look around, how many clocks are there on the walls around the hall? = B (if the Hall is closed, look from the above gallery, if that is closed you get B from Stage 5 on the Queens' Terrace - look at the wooden gifted by a country - how many letters in the country name = B)
Stage 3 - Entrance Hall
Back in the Entrance Hall take the stairs up and count. How many step in the stairs from the bottom to the next floor? = C (hint: it is an even number)
Stage 4 - Entrance Hall upper Gallery
Find the aboriginal art painting in the upper gallery (overlooking the Entrance Hall from above) which has the same motive as the mosaic in front of Parliament House. (you can go to the Queens Terrace to have another look if in doubt). Look at the label for the painting. What year was the painting painted? Third digit of the year = D
Stage 5 - Queen's Terrace
On the Queen's Terrace, go to our Queen. We see that Queen Elizabeth II had the questionable honour to unveil her own statue. What day of the month was that? = E
Stage 6 - Gardens
Now walk on the right side towards the center of the building. Look out the windows on the north-west side into the gardens. You will see a circular art feature in a pond. How many objects stick out of the water? = F (you can see it from a different angle when crossing the gardens going to the Senate, if all else fails you might have to look at a satellite picture)
Stage 7 - Members' Hall
Arriving in the Members' Hall heading to the center under the flagpole. Look up to awe at the flag above then look around and count the stars. How many stars above columns in total on all four sides? = G
Stage 8 - Senate
Go to the Senate visitor seating area. Count the number of bowl shaped lamps at the back behind the seats. = H (if it is full and you can't enter, count the bowl shaped lamps above the front of the visitor seating area -1)
Stage 9 - House of Representatives
Head over and across to the House of Representatives. At the back of the House visitor seating area is a separated little 'hallway' with a number of empty (no glass) windows (or cut-throughs) separating this space from the visitor seating area. How many of these windows are there? = I (not counting doors)
Stage 10 - Elevator to the Roof
Go back to the Members' Hall and take the elevator to the roof. Inside the elevator to the roof look for the Maximum load of Persons. = J
Stage 11 - Roof - Fire Doors
The large side walls (where the Flag structure stands on top of) has a number of giant window niches (or cut-throughs). In some of the niches are doors into the wall. Find the door with writing on it starting with the word 'Fire'. How many words on that door? = K
Stage 12 - Roof - Glass Door
Walk to the far corner along the walls you can get to (any corner is fine). Here you will find a glass door leading into the wall. How many words are written on that glass door? = L
Now head out and go to GZ S35° 1D. (C-J+1) (G-A) (I-3) E149° (E+L-K). (H) (L) (F-B)
Checksums: S 32 E 37
Once done with the calculation substract -1 from South and add +2 to the east for even more precice coordinates.
Be stealthy when retrieving the cache, this is a high security area and you don't want to draw any attention to the hide.
FTF: dty73, Aquilus1 and Tankeninge