The starting coordinates for this cache point to the middle of
Anzac Parade, a major avenue pointing to the War Memorial and Mt
Ainslie to the northeast, and over Lake Burley Griffin to the two
Parliament Houses southwest. A place I always enjoy visiting, there
have been quite a few additions and renovations in recent years.
And of course consider visiting the War Memorial Museum, regularly
voted best tourist attraction in the country.
Anzac stands for the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, soldiers
who went to fight in the Great War of 1914-18 on the other side of
the world. It is generally believed that the unsuccessful Gallipoli
campaign of 1915 was a defining moment for the identities of both
countries.
Your task is to visit the amazing monuments along the parade, learn
about the men and women honoured by them, and then off to claim
another cache!
Step 1.
There is nothing of importance at the precise coordinates. For
parking, there are two small roads (one very close to each side)
called Anzac Pk, as you cannot park on the Parade itself. It
doesn't matter where on the Parade you choose to start.
Step 2.
There are currently 12 memorials along the parade, 6 on each
side. There are 4 allocated spaces still unused (second in from
each corner). In the off-chance that more memorials appear before
you do this cache (or to help you tick them off), the twelve you
need to visit are:
- Australian Army
- Desert Mounted Corps
- Greek Campaign
- Kemal Ataturk
- Korean War
- New Zealand (East)
- New Zealand (West)
- Service Nurses
- Rats of Tobruk
- Royal Australian Air Force
- Royal Australian Navy
- Vietnam Forces
Walk or cycle up one side and back down the other, completing a
loop to return to your starting point. Even if you are walking and
pause to appreciate each stop, this should take less than an hour.
Step 3.
As you travel, answer these twelve questions. They are in no
particular order, so you will have to decide which question goes
with which memorial when you arrive there(many will be obvious).
The answers aren't hard once you've matched the correct question.
Look on the explanation plaques at the front, or around the
memorial itself. You won't need the obscure plaques hidden at the
back, any fine print, etc. All the answers are numbers between 1
and 100.
- How many campaigns have New Zealand and Australia fought
together in?
- Along the ground, how many lines radiate all the way out from
the 'ship'?
- How many large circular shapes in the perimeter defences?
- What number Magpie "hit my smoke" in Vietnam?
- How many lines long (excluding the author's name) is the quote
about Johnnies and Mehmets?
- How many major conflicts (tall and pink) have the Army been
involved in?
- One of the islands has a white square around it, as it is an
inset. How many segments large is this island?
- How many letters in the latin name of this sculpture?
- What day in April was the first memorial constructed for the
Parade unveiled?
- How many large vertical glass panels?
- Which squadron of the RAAF joined the action in 1950?
- Ignoring the union jack, the stars of the Australian flag have
a total of 40 points. How many points in total on the NZ flag? (and
what colour, for extra credit!
)
Step 4.
So many numbers... if you want to double check, add your 12
answers up and the last digit will be a 2.
Next, write your answers left to right, in order from lowest to
highest. The difference between the left two numbers is A. The
difference between the third and fourth numbers is B. And so on for
C, D, E, and F.
Example: If your 12 answers are:
12,4,76,44,13,2,34,56,14,8,88,1
then you will rewrite them as:
1,2,4,8,12,13,14,34,44,56,76,88
and get: A=2-1=1, B=4, C=1, D=20, E=12, F=12.
sss is the 3 digit number Cx100 + Ex10 + (B+D),
eee is the 3 digit number Ax100 + Fx10 + (E-D),
and the final coordinates of the cache are:
S 35º 17.sss, E 149º 08.eee.
Step 5.
The cache is within 200m of the Parade, with a couple of ways to
get there. There are trees in the vicinity, so your GPS may
struggle for an exact lock. You're looking for a seat, so sit there
and ponder your thoughts until the coast is clear. It's normally
quite deserted, but if not consider reading the hints first so
you're not hunting too long. The camouflaged 1.25L container will
hold medium swaps. The contents were started with an ANZAC theme,
but it is not necessary to continue this.