Acknowledgement of Country: I would like to pay my respects to the First People: the traditional custodians of the lands and waterways of the Ngunnawal, Ngunawal and Ngambri Country. I would like to acknowledge that this geocache has been placed on what was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
Carruthers Street Bus Shelter
When doing some reading a couple of years ago about Canberra's iconic concrete bus shelters, I came across some very interesting information about the metal bus shelter located at the posted coordinates on Carruthers Street, Curtin. Below are excerpts from an article by Ian Warden from The Canberra Times and see the cache gallery for their "artist's impression" of the bus shetler.
"In 1979 the Transport Branch concluded there were 66 sites into which the chunky, concrete Sumo-wrestler "bunker" shelter could not be fitted. These places needed bus shelters of some kind but the (National Capital Development Commission, NCDC) long resisted an alternate design until, at last, in 1987 it conspired with a Canberra company called Metal Design to create a prototype.
"Our black and white drawing of it (complete with a forlorn little dog and of a sitting man with, inexplicably, a halo) revealing it to be quite dainty and feminine, is from the time of its conception.
"During a 1987 meeting between (ACTION Buses) and the NCDC, concerns were expressed that this new shelter would be climbable and swingfromable and so would be "encouraging to budding gymnasts".
"But one prototype was constructed and installed and is still in use, imparting some scarce uniqueness to otherwise unremarkable Curtin. It is on Carruthers Street. It is not clear whether any others were constructed and installed.
"And by October of that same year the NCDC had decided this structure was too open to the elements. Yes, from our picture and although pretty, it doesn't seem capable of sheltering anyone, even a dog, from anything much. The project was abandoned."
Source: Warden, I. (2018, April 24). Gang-gang. Light rail stops offer exciting design opportunities. The Canberra Times. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6049720/gang-gang-light-rail-stops-offer-exciting-design-opportunities/
This Cache
The posted coordinates (WP1) take you to the metal bus shelter on Carruthers Street but the cache is not located there. First, visit WP1 and answer a couple of questions about the bus shelter.
ABBC = According to the yellow and blue sign, what is the stop number?
DE = On any one of the two seats, how many wooden planks are there?
Then, the cache is located at:
S35° 19.(A+A)(E-A)C
E149° 04.AB(A+D)
Checksums: S = 35, E = 23
Good luck and I hope you enjoy learning more about Canberra's bus stops! At GZ, you are looking for a screwtop container. BYOP, stay on the lookout for muggles and please re-conceal the cache well.
***FTF honours goes to Flintstone's***