It might be best to approach from a northerly direction, unless of course, you like doing things the hard way and want to do some serious bush-bashing. I doubt that the resident wildlife would appreciate the intrusion though.
And Broken Bones...
Firstly, a little bit of background info for you:
When the first settlers came to Australia just over 200 years ago, they were surprised by the weird and wonderful wildlife they encountered. A bird that runs faster than most land animals, a small bear like tree dweller, hundreds of beautifully coloured parrots, the animals were like nothing the settlers had ever seen before.
Most were named after the local Aboriginal terms for each animal hence such strange names as Kangaroo, Cockatoo, Koala and Wallaby. Some were hunted into extinction, like the thylacine, a striped dog like marsupial, while others were revered simply because they were so strange, like the kangaroo.
Most native Australian animals are marsupials, characterized by a distinctive pouch in which they carry their young for the first few months of their lives. It’s these marsupials that are the characteristic Australian animal. The kangaroo, koala, possum, wallaby and wombat are all known as characteristically Australian animals. But there are also hundreds of bird species that make up a big part of the Australian wildlife. Emu’s are the largest and most well known but there are many others, such as the large sulphur-crested cockatoo with its yellow crest, often kept as a pet. There are also the brightly coloured rainbow lorikeets, King Parrots and Rosellas that all have shrill songs and create a magnificent flash of colour against the dry Australian bush.
Australian wildlife is extremely unique, with tens of thousands of years being cut off from any outside influence, they have had the chance to evolve and adapt to their environment in some fantastic ways. The most amazing of all being the echidna and the platypus. But I’ll leave that up to you to find out for yourself.
In placing this cache, I am hoping to do my bit to help bring attention to the immediate need for protection of our amazing natural world. As human populations increase and natural resources are stretched to breaking point, the environment and all its inhabitants bear the full impact of this change. Directly affected are native animals that have evolved over time with an ever-changing planet, but now find themselves pushed into smaller and smaller pockets of fragmented habitat and struggle to adapt to this rapid and unprecedented event.
Various environmental groups across Australia are all working together to raise funds and much needed awareness for conservation projects and recovery programs, essential to protect remaining ecosystems from vanishing forever. Only thirty years ago or so, there was natural bushland all the way from Sutton’s Farm near the old Mandurah traffic bridge, all the way to Dorothy Street at the start of Novara/Falcon. This small area is one of the last remaining areas left undeveloped.
While you are here looking for the cache, think about the many creatures who are confined to this tiny pocket of natural bush. I hope you will also take the time to follow the walking path around the perimeter, bringing you back to where you started. You will see a vast array of plants and wildlife along the way – I hope you enjoy them. But don’t forget the mosquito repellant!!
But where is that elusive cache hiding?
Below is a list of scrambled letters which, when rearranged correctly, will give you the names of some of the locals around here, along with some of their distant relatives.
You might like to download the puzzle as an image and print it out larger, if that is easier for you.
Now, how did you go with all that unscrambling?
I bet you had a little bit of help with some of them!!
Enough of the ABC’s. Now it is time for the 123’s.
The cache can be found at S 32° 33. abc E 115° 41. def.
|
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
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
For the SOUTH decimal coordinates, you need to take the FIRST letter of each name and convert it to a number, where A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, and so on through to Z = 26. Now, you simply need to add them all up and subtract the total from 998. These are the south decimal coordinates, abc.
For the EAST decimal coordinates, you need to take the LAST letter of each name and convert it to a number, again using the same procedure. Now, add these up too, then add 336 to this total. You should now have the east decimal coordinates, def.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I can hear you cursing me – I just hope that nobody gets RSI of the fingers whilst working these out, or throws their calculators at the wall and breaks them as they check and recheck their totals.
Sorry guys, but sometimes you have to work a little harder to earn that smiley face!
For those of you who have persisted though, I am including a sumcheck to let you know if you are on the right track:
a + b + c + d + e + f = 21
Goodluck everyone!!
I hope you find this one ok (in other words, I hope I haven’t muffed the instructions, lol).
Please contact me if you are having any problems.
FTF Congratulations Chwiliwr
PS Some of you may have noticed and had some trepidation over the listed decimal coordinates, (666 & 666) but have no fear, the only 'beasts' around here are mankind.