Australia – Alice Springs

Episode 9.4
17 April 2003



1  2  3  4  5


Contestants Eric Kilby, head of statistics department in paper industry, and Mark Bytheway, local council service manager
Start Position Emily Gap Nature Park
Clue 1 Travel the highway, by occident, to a frontier of Padstow’s watercourse. Race to Eric the Afghan by way of an Arabian. 1
Leads to Frontier Camel Farm – with Eric at end of camel race
Clue 2 Hang about, the GNR is still on track. Where barristers are called, and look for Garland’s ‘Oz’ song. Quite the opposite. 2
Leads to Old Ghan Railway Museum – under rainbow window in bar of steam train
Clue 3 Reserve judgment and follow Todd up to his link with Charles Moore. ‘What hath God wrought’ – get the message? 3
Leads to Alice Springs Telegraph Station Visitor Centre – in ‘PEAKE’ pigeon-hole in Post Telegraph Office
Re-position to Old Alice Springs
Clue 4 At 8 o’clock, great Sandy almost offers pudding. Park in a river area then, from a birdy billabong, get Cossidae grub. 4
Leads to Alice Springs Desert Park – in tray of Witchetty grubs in Waterhole Exhibit
Clue 5 Go away: E flat is nearby. Hail to the (41st and 43rd) Chief of your previous grub. Ask for assistance – do you dig it? 5
Leads to Alice Springs Desert Park – under Witchetty bush in Awaye Flat
Result The contestants won the treasure with 1 minute 15 seconds to spare


Notes
● As usual, the cameraman was Guy Littlemore and the sound recordist was Simon Burles, but the helicopter was flown by local pilot Damian (instead of Keith Thompson).
1 Suzi flies west (occident) to Frontier Camel Farm (Padstow, Cornwall is on the River Camel) where she meets camel-jockey Nick, who helps her mount a dromedary (Arabian) ready for a race with two other camels. “I’m coming with you,” he tells her. “Suits me sir,” she says as the camel rises, rear end first. At the end of the course – Suzi comes last – a man in a turban (Eric the Afghan) gives her the clue.
2 About 30km of the former Great Northern Railway to Asia (GNR) has been preserved (still on track) as the Old Ghan (anagram of ‘hang’) Railway. As the helicopter approaches the Old Ghan Railway Museum, Suzi spots a steam train from the air. She lands, waits for the train to arrive, boards, runs through the carriages to the bar (where barristers are called) and finds the clue under a rainbow window (‘Over The Rainbow’ was sung by Judy Garland in ‘The Wizard Of Oz’).
3 The helicopter follows the Todd River to the Alice Springs Telegraph Station (Charles Moore is editor of ‘The Daily Telegraph’). When she enters the Visitor Centre’s Post Telegraph Office, Suzi finds a message written in Morse code (the first telegraph message sent was ‘What hath God wrought’). It reads “Treasure Hunt: your clue has just arrived from the .-- . .- -.- .” which the contestants correctly translate as ‘Peake’. Suzi finds the clue in the nearby pigeon-hole labelled The Peake.
4 The helicopter heads south-west (8 o’clock) to the Alice Springs Desert Park (great Sandy is a famous Australian desert, pudding = dessert, park). In the Waterhole Exhibit (in a river area, birdy billabong), Suzi meets Kylie who is holding tray of Witchetty (Cossidae) grubs. The clue (a note, not a tube) is under them. Kylie eats a grub and offers one to Suzi. She bites off half and gives the other half to Simon, who eats it (!).
5 Suzi notices a nearby sign ‘Awaye Flat’ (away: E flat) and enters the area. Staff member John is supervising a spear-throwing session near some Witchetty (of your previous grub) bushes (George Bush Snr and George W Bush are the 41st and 43rd US presidents). John invites Suzi to dig beside one of the bushes (do you dig it), and she finds the buried treasure.





Information © David Hodges, 2003

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