Round and round they go, and have done such in Australia for almost 2 centuries.
Yes I’m talking about the Windmill – an Aussie Icon seen all over Australia.
Windmill – Aussie Icon
This is one of a planned series of great Aussie Icon hunts. Travelling around Australia you undoubtedly see windmills: Dead ones, Rusted ones, High ones, Spinning ones, Coloured ones, Huge ones, all seen along the roadside, adjacent farm houses, along river banks, in gullies, in country town parks, in museums, in fact wherever…
This series of geocaches is designed to help you when travelling around Australia, by breaking up the trip, and to discover a bit of a history lesson as you seek windmills in locations with a written history of the windmill and/or local region adjacent.
With each of these trips, I’ll be giving the actual coordinates of the relevant windmills along the route – you then have to visit them enroute and determine the vital statistics and any other required info at the location. This will then be put into a formula to determine the final location of the cache. All windmills are accessible by car (no bush bashing required), they are all just a few metres off the highway, or in the centre of towns you will pass through, eg town parks. If there is limited access (to the base of the windmill) due to the time of day a park closes, I’ll mention that for the relevant windmill. All can be easily seen from road though.
Street view could be useful .........
Use that (& your time machine) and all is revealed, 100%.
In many of the windmills, you will be required to count the number of blades on the fan. This will be difficult to impossible depending on the strength of the wind.
Therefore, a digital camera IS ESSENTIAL.
Also, if you live in Melbourne, when you come back to Melbourne, you can track down "Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 1.4" – Adelaide to Melbourne
GC1KHVG - Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 1.4
Now onto this particular geocache:
MELBOURNE to ADELAIDE
Windmill A
S37º 38.550 E 144º 52.763
Number of blades = AA (COUNT THEM!!!!), There are two rows of words on the tail, the top 6 letter word = ?. Number of vowels in that word = AB. Numeric position in alphabet of 4th letter in this word = AC. Number of tanks at base of windmill = AD.
ALTERNATIVE WINDMILL A : (if roadworks temporarily blocks access)
S37º 43.038 E145º 7.264
Number of blades = AA (COUNT THEM!!!!), Number of concrete foot pads MINUS 1 = AB. Number of blades per segment = AC. Number of tanks at base of windmill = AD.
Location of next windmill, Park closes at 4:30pm.
S 37º 38 . 4(AB+AC)(AA-AB-AC)
E 144º 50 . 3(AA-10+AD)4
Windmill B
Number of blades = BA. Diameter = BB. Water was pumped with a lift of BC.5 metres to the top of a nearby hill. Ownership passed to Ben Chaffey in 19BD.
Location of next windmill
S 37º 38 . (BC-BD-BB)(8)(AB+AC)
E 144º 48 . (BA/AA)(BB-AA)7
Windmill C
Number of blades = CA. There is some letters written on the blades. Number of blades without a letter = CB. Number of occurrences of the letter “L” = CC. Number of occurrences of the letter “A” = CD.
NOTE: This windmill may be dismantled for repairs (last check): So, use the following, at the same coordinates.
Find the windmill stand/tower (without the blades) – you don’t need to be at the windmill, you can get freely to within 30m of it. It is over there across the train lines…..
CA: Straddling the track nearby is a large rusty brown dinosaur. It has how many ribs? If 6 ribs CA=12, if 8 ribs CA=18, if 10 ribs CA=24, if 12 ribs CA=36.
CB: The railway track sleepers are 100/300/500/900 mm apart? If 100 CB=1, if 300 CB=2, if 500 CB=3, if 900 CB=0.
CC: About 30 metres North of the windmill is a large dinosaur. What colour is it? CC = number of letters in that colour.
CD: The track under the rusty brown dinosaur has how many rails? If 2 CD=4, if 3 CD=3, if 4 CD=5.
Log from atsmug 22/Mar/2015, Windmill C is up and working although the extra clues give a double check :)
Location of next windmill
S 37º 46 . (CD-CB)(AD)(CD-AC)
E 144º 4(CC+CB) . (AC)(CB)(8)
Windmill D
Number of blades = DA. Number on tail = DB. .
Location of next windmill
S 37º 45 . (CC+CB)(DB)(CC)
E 144º 4(AB+AC) . (DA/CB)(AB+AC)(AC+AD)
Windmill E
Number of blades = EA. Green Lever – “K??”. ?? = EB.
Location of next windmill
S 37º 2(EA-DA) . (CC)(4)(EA-DA)
E 143º 2(DA/CB) . (CC+CB)(CD-CB)(CC)
Windmill F
Number of blades = FA. If A=1, B=2 etc, then the numeric value of the FIRST letter of the FIRST word on the tail = FB. The numeric value of the first letter of the SECOND word on the tail = FC.
Location of next windmill
S 37º (FC-FB)(BD-EB) . (CD-AC)(CD+AD)(BD-EB)
E 142º (AB+FB)(FA-BD+CD) . (BD-EB)(EA-FA)(FA-BD+CD)
Windmill G
Number of blades = GA. Number of tanks at base of windmill = GB. Third number in the big number very close by = GC.
Location of next windmill
S 36º (CB)(GC-FB) . (EA-BD)(EA-FA)(CB)
E 141º (FB)(FC) . (GA-FB)(FC)(DB-DA+EB)
Windmill H
Number of blades = HA. There is a T-Junction pipe fitting at the bottom of the stand pipe, Country = ??. Number of letters in this country = HB. Numeric value of the FIRST letter of this country = HC.
Location of next windmill
S 36º (HC-HA)(GC-FC) . (HB+AD)(CB)(CC)
E 141º (GB)(EA-FA) . (HA/2)(BD-EB+AD)(EA-FA)
Windmill I
Number of blades = IA. Number of dogs = IB. Number of lambs = IC.
Location of next windmill
S 36º (GC-CD)(IB+GB) . (IA-GA+IC)(HB)(DB)
E 141º (DB-GA)(FB+CB) . (FB)(EA-BD)(HA-DA)
Windmill J
Number of blades = JA. Diameter = ?.62 metres. ? = JB. Aquifer is ?? metres below ground level. ?? = JC. Number of kilolitres for TWO hours = JD.
Location of next windmill
S 35º (IA-GA)(HB-GC) . (BC-JA)(CC-GC)(HB)
E 140º (DB-HB)(JD/FC) . (JB-AB)(IA-GA)(JD/FC)
Windmill K
Number of blades = KA. Number of dogs = KB. Suzie, what month = KC, what day = KD.
Location of next windmill
S 34º (BD-IA)(KB) . (KD-HC)(KB+IC)(KB)
E 138º (EA-FA)(KD-KA+FC) . (KB-IC)(AD+GB)(KB)
Windmill L
Number of blades = LA.
Location of next windmill
S 34º (LA-IA-FB)(LA-JD) . (GA)(KC-IC+AD)(LA-JD)
E 138º (GC-CB)(HB+GB-IB) . (BD-JB-FC)(AA-KC)(JD+AD)
Windmill M
Number of blades = MA.
Location of next windmill
S 34º (GC-IB)(BC-KD-1) . (JC-JA)(BC-KD-CD)(IB)
E 138º (DA-AA)(JA-KA) . (MA/2)(IC)(KC)
Windmill N
Number of blades + 1 = NA.
Location of next windmill
S 34º (CC-IC)(JD+AD) . (EB-NA+FB)(JD)(MA-NA)
E 138º (MA-NA)(JD-HB) . (CC-CB)(LA-AA)(JB)
Windmill O
Number of blades = OA.
Location of next windmill
S 35º (GA-JB) (NA-FB-1) . (IC+1) (CA/CB) (7)
E 138º (JB-FB-1) (HC-AA-4) . (EA-BB-1) (CC) (1)
Windmill P
Number of blades = PA.
Location of next windmill
S 35º (AA-PA-FC)(GB-GA+JB) . (EA-FA+FC)(FA-LA-GB)(CC+CB)
E 138º (DA-AA)(GC+AD) . (HA-IA-IC)(JC-JA)(HC-AA)
Windmill Q
Number of blades = QA.
Cache is located at:
S 37º NP.QRS
E 144º VW.XYZ
Where:
N = (AA+QA-KA)
P = (BC-GA-EA+KB)
Q = (AD+HC-LA)
R = (CC+PA-IA)
S = (JB+GB-IC)
V = (JC-BC-FC)
W = (OA-KD-HB+BD-CD)
X = (AB+BB-JA+MA+NA)
Y = (IB+JD-KC+CA-DA-CB)
Z = (BA-DB-EB-FB-GC-FA+AA)
Finally, as with all windmills, from time to time a blade may fall off and you may see the windmill before it is replaced. So, count how many blades should be there. (unless told otherwise).