Building started around 1900, for wealthy South Canterbury run-holder, Allan McLean. This huge home was the largest wooden residence in Australasia at the time. However McLean didn't live much longer to enjoy his mansion, but after his death, many 'indigent gentlewomen' were able to - with the exception of one poor woman who had more right than any. So poor was she, that "she has been driven by start necessity to sell the oilcloth on the floors of her home in order to provide food and clothing for her three children".
Find out about this magnificent building and the man who built it, and learn the family secret he took with him to his grave.
To find the cache you first need to find the correct numbers to match the six letters of the alphabet listed below. Each letter has a clue, the answers you will find on the webpage link below:
http://lostchristchurch.org.nz/holly-lea-mcleans-mansion-manchester-street-c-1900
S 43°31.ABC E 172°38.DEF
A = Last digit in year by which time the entire McLean family had emigrated from Australia.
B = Number of bedrooms on the first floor set aside for the servants.
C = Ideal for growing pineapples and bananas in Christchurch. Third digit in measurements.
D = Imagine how long it would take to clean a house with 5D rooms!
E = Age Mary was sent to a convent.
F = Number of groundsmen employed at Waikakahi.
Take a pen, no room for swaps. WARNING: This area is known as a spot where street workers solicit for clients so it is not suited to night time caching and you may want to leave the kids at home. This is definitely no longer a place for 'indigent gentlewomen'! You can access the cache from outside the gates, or inside when unlocked. Outside you are more exposed and may have to resort to the well known cacher's trick of 'opps, my shoe lace is undone'. Inside the gates it is more private - but this is exactly the reason why the street workers favour it! In view of this I have put the case slightly above ground, hanging on a hook (and hoping it won't get muggled). Please be careful when retrieving as the hook may come out. If it does, please put back in place (easier to do when inside the gates).
We hope you enjoy this cache - given its location it is a bit of a challenge. For more stories from our city's past, visit www.lostchristchurch.org.nz