This Virtual Cache is best done on a sunny day.
Mount Annan Botanic Gardens
These gardens were first opened to the public in 1988. Prior to this the area was dairy pasture land and was acquired by the government in 1984. It took 4 years to create the gardens. It is the largest botanical garden in Australia.
The gardens have beautiful native plant displays, areas completely devoted to individual plant species (e.g. the Banksia Garden), a café, a native plant nursery and plenty of picnic areas. You can take plant samples for identification to the PlantBank. There are lots of walks throughout the gardens and it is a great place to see Australian Birds and Reptiles.
The Sundial of Human Involvement - Virtual Reward 4.0
This Analemmatic sundial enables you to tell the time using the shadow cast by your own body.
To reach the Sundial -
Enter the Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan from Narellan Road. Follow the one-way entry road past the new Australian PlantBank buildings and the main car park then veer left past the lake and turn right into Caley Drive. Continue along this road until you reach the red sign for the Sundial of Human Involvement, about 3km from the main entry gate. The parking area is just beyond the sign and has great views to the east.
Walk up the tarred path to the sundial and it's 360° views. Mt Annan itself is the hill to the right.
DO NOT SIT OR STAND BENEATH THE BUNYA PINE TREES
This is the garden warning sign and the cone that can fall on you!
Instructions for telling the time
1. Stand upon today’s date on the ‘figure of 8’, known as an Analemma, with the sun behind you and face the hour marker stones.
2. Turn your body so you are looking along your shadow.
3. If you are not tall enough for your shadow to reach the hour marker stones raise your arms in front of you until your shadow is as long as it can be.
4. The resultant shadow will tell you what time it is!
5. During Daylight Saving remember to add one hour to the time indicated by your shadow.
To check the accuracy of your time reading compare it to the time reading on the conventional Garden Sundial to the right, which Mount Annan Gardens say is very accurate!
Your Task
To claim this Virtual cache send me the answers to these questions. Please do not include them in your log.
1. What 3 numbers are repeated on the marker stones?
2. What date was the Sundial dedicated? (on the plaque)
3. Tell me what you think the timber structure about 25m down the hill from the sundial was used for when this was farmland.
4. Take a photo of your shadow showing the time on the marker stones. State the time you took your photo in your log.
Online logs without this photo and the time will be deleted.
Here is an example of the required photo.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.