There is a joke amongst locals regarding how Lord Howe Island was named. When Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball was sailing around on The Supply (this part is true) he looked out and saw the beautiful island at which he remarked "Lord, how'd this get here?" Of course this isn't the case with the island named after Lord. Richard Howe, the first Lord of the Admiralty.
The Cache:
The cache can be found at S 31 AB.CDE E 159 VW.XYZ
Wp1 At the published coordinates continue walking up the paddock until you find the remains of the catalina crash tragedy, which crashed after attempting an emergency landing in the Old Settlement lagoon, but just clipped the top of the hill killing 7 men. The remains are just left lying on the hillside for visitors to go have a look.
Now to find the value of B, you must count how many engines are left lying on the ground, then plus 2? B = ?
Wp2 The jetty is a really important facility to how Lord Howe works. It has been built and rebuilt numerous times over the years, with the current one assembled in 1982, to replace the old one which was badly deteriorated. Having the jetty allows the ship The Island Trader, to come right in and dock and unload right in close to shore. This ship carries ALL of Lord Howe Islands supplies (Food, Cars, Clothes etc) and comes in every fortnight. Many of the locals use the jetty to run there businesses (deep sea fishing, scuba diving, sight seeing (this should take you to Balls Pyramid if you wanted to attempt the earthcache GC38BTY) and birdwatching tours) which all leave from this spot. The jetty has also become a local hangout for the kids who perform all sorts of tricks jumping off into the water and if you time it right on many occasions you can spot a couple of large sting (bull) rays gliding through below.
At the given coordinates for this waypoint you will find a sign about some Fascinating Fish you might see. To find the value of A, what is the 6th number of the Marine Parks Office phone number? A = ?
Wp3 Takes you to a nice lookout over the lagoon, you get great views of the mountains, the pristine blue-green water and rabbit island.
Here you will find a small pillar telling you the compass directioms and distances to other interesting landmarks. Noumea is 68? (M)iles from this location. The missing number will give you the value of D. D = ?
Wp4 The Museum is a must visit if you're a tourist on Lord Howe. They have incredible displays informing you of the history of the island (very interesting), the geology and many other amazing facts about the wildlife and life on Lord Howe. There is a cafe inside and the option of getting some internet so you can write a nice long log on these caches ;).
The given coordinates are outside the museum where you will find a cairn, on which is a plaque to answer the following question.
For the value of C, Who built the cairn?
- The Lord Howe Island Board? (9)
- The Children of Lord Howe? (1) or
- The local builder? (5)
C = ?
For the value of Z, using the same plaque, what day was the plaque unveiled?
- Australia Day (2)
- Boxing Day (7)
- Discovery Day (5)
Z = ?,
Wp5 Will take you to a little war memorial commemorating the lives of victims of the war who were locals to the island.
For the value of V, how many times does the number 6 appear on the white archway as you enter the memorial? V = ?
Wp6 Lord Howe Island Central School was established in 1879 and is quite unique to most other schools in NSW, it is one of the most remote schools and most locals growing up would have had to grow up inside these classrooms. Ranging from K-6 there would only be around 40 children and a couple of teachers! Footwear is not part of the uniform so almost all the kids don't bother with wearing shoes. (If only it was like this where I went to school). Whilst there is no high school on the island, children can complete it here via a distance education program but most go to the mainland for boarding school. This waypoint isn't on school grounds, even though I think tourists are allowed to wander through it, just not in school hours.
The local markets are also held here on one of the Sundays every month, so keep an eye out for signs.
Use the sign at Wp6 to answer the following question for E.
How many rings are on the palm tree in the school logo? E = ?
Wp7 Blinky Beach (Blikenthorpe Bay), this beach is very popular and is the best (and only) surf beach on the island. The water is very clear so when you catch the barrel it looks amazing. There are many wideawakes (sooty terns) nesting amogst the dunes which will no doubt come and say hello to you. Every now and then when the dune grows to large they have to cut it back down so the plane can still land! The orange flags are there to stop the birds nesting here so they don't get caught in the plane engines.
For W, answer the following question.
Are dogs allowed on the southern end of the beach?
- Yes (4)
- No (5)
- No dogs are allowed on the beach (9) W = ?
For X, how many warnings are on the sign? X = ?
Wp8 Lovers Bay, ahh what a beautiful spot to relax and have an evening picnic as the sun goes down. Many weddings have been held at this location (including my parents) over the years and is easy to understand why. My pop tells a story about the Norfolk Pine trees which stand here and to why they were planted. Many years ago a man was waving goodbye to his wife and daughters as they were going by boat (the only way in those days) to the mainland to go to school. As he saw them sailing off through the south passage he planted the trees to remember them by. Sadly they were lost at sea and were never seen again. So today if your a boat trying to navigate your way through the reef you just have to line up with the trees and you'll get through.
Now the question to get the value of Y is, how many Norfolk Pine Trees are there within 15m of the waypoint coordinates, and then minus 1? Y = ? (Don't over think it)
That's it! You now have all you need to reveal the coordinates of where the cache is hidden.
To get to the final container, it is best suited to the nimble geocacher who doesn't mind climbing. Only attempt if you feel comfortable doing so, if not just stay back and enjoy the views, have a picnic on the tables nearby or go for a snorkel. It is surprising how nice the snorkelling is here, with thousands of fish, coral, seaweed and we even saw a couple of crayfish crawling along the bottom of the ocean floor.
The cache will be maintained by my GeoNan who agreed to look after it.