About the Park
Wilson Botanic Park is a 100-acre botanic garden located in Berwick, Victoria, Australia.The park is open every day of the year (except Christmas and Good Friday, from 7am to 6pm (9pm during daylight savings) & entry to the park is free.
The area the park now occupies was a blue metal quarry, in operation between 1859 and 1976. The northern section of the current park was donated to the City of Berwick (now City of Casey) after the mining operations ceased. The southern section was later purchased by the City to establish the botanic gardens, which were officially opened in 1992.
The park has two lakes which were the former quarries, "Anniversary Lake" and "Basalt Lake" which has a sheer basalt rock face on its eastern edge and a boardwalk and bird hide on its western edge. A steep pathway leads to the Hoo Hoo Lookout Tower which has extensive views over the surrounding suburban areas. Ben's Lookout also provides extensive panoramic views as does the Directional Marker located at the highest point of the park.
Wilson Botanic Park has two fossil seams, during the operational days of the quarry many fossils were found, some more than 22 million years old. The fossils include wood, leaves and pollen of flowering plants and conifers, some of the earliest known Eucalyptus fossils were found within the park.
A map of the park is available
here. Facilities within the park include an information centre (open from 10-4 daily), an open-air amphitheatre, playground, education room, multiple barbecues, shelters, rotundas and toilets.
Car parking is available (free of charge) at the park entry (enter via the bluestone gates off the Princes Highway) and the park is accessible via the Hallam Bypass Trail for cyclists and walkers. There is a bus route along the highway and the park is approx 2km from the Berwick railway station.
The park is very dog-friendly and many people often walk through the park (with or without dogs) however, cycling is not permitted within the park.
Cache Location Clues
To find this cache you will need to collect clues from four other caches in Wilson Botanic Park:
The clue is a letter (W, X, Y, Z) and a corresponding place name.
Collect the four clues then climb to the highest point in the park (at the coordinates listed for this cache) to find the Directional Marker (a brass direction plaque on a stone plinth).
Read the distance to each of the clue locations and use the following information to calculate GZ.
The cache can be found at:
S 38° X.(W+73)
E 145° (Y - 10).(Z-86)
Do not attempt to walk in a straight line to the Directional Marker or away from it to the cache, stay on the path and away from the quarry-cliff.
The Cache
The cache is a small clip-lock container that has room for small swaps, BYO pen, please replace the cache and camouflage as you found it.
I hope you enjoyed exploring Wilson Botanic Park and had fun finding the caches here.