At exactly 9am I received GPS coordinates
by SMS.
Quickly punching them into my Garmin I saw
straight away that it was going to be one of the local fast food outlets. (They're all very close together) It
turned out to be the golden arches and my clue was a womans first name.
First things first, seeing as it was early
I ordered breakfast and coffee and sat to consider my clue. There was no one in
the *restaurant that looked familiar and no one was looking at me so I went to
the counter and asked for the womans name. * just who decided these fast food
shops somehow deserve the title of restaurant?
I was pointed to the manager who knew who I
was and gave me a small present containing another set of coordinates and lots
of numbers on bits of paper.
As she sits now, 3 Km from the water, you cant see it but you can walk right under the Corvette HMAS Whyalla
The new co-ords took me to our new city library.. I sat
in my car looking at the numbers, two sets on two bits of paper. They looked
somehow familiar.. then the penny dropped. I was outside the library and the
numbers were Dewey numbers. The two sets of numbers took me to two books. Australia's Sea War and Greece and Cyprus during WW2. There were no
bits of paper or marked pages in the books so I guessed the books themselves
were the clue.
We have two WW2 sites here in town, a large
Gun Battery which protected our harbor and ship building facilities and the first
war ship built here now dragged from the sea and set up as a museum several kilometers
from the sea…not a small ship.
I did a drive by of the ship, had a look
about and not finding any clues moved on to the gun battery.
The old gun battery is set on a hill
overlooking the sea, as such it was perfect to set up as a picnic area with one
restored ships gun and all the original emplacements still intact. With a few
huge picnic tables with benches and a lookout viewing 360deg all around.
I wandered about the emplacements first and
eventually made my way over to the big gun.
I like this place, during WW2 my father
worked in the steel making facility and manned the big guns here on the hill.
Eventually I found a bright yellow rubber
duck hidden in the recoil chamber of the big gun, on it were more co-ords.
Punching them into the Garmin it
immediately came up with a map showing the point, I knew it immediately, my
daughters house on the same street as mine…
The whole family was there, I was carried
inside by a wave of grandkids, through the house and outside to the patio where
they were all gathered with food, presents and cake. It was a great day and in
fact the best birthday since my 21st.
.
