Silverstream Hospital
In 1941 a site overlooking the Hutt River near Silverstream was
specifically selected for a new NZ Army hospital. Construction
started in September and was nearly completed when in May 1942
notification came through that the hospital was to be handed over
to the US Navy. The same command also required the hospital to be
increased in size to support 1,200 patients.
The US Navy occupied the hospital in August 1942. The hospital
eventually grew to accommodate 1,600 patients, with the hospital's
sports field being built upon to support this increased number. At
this stage the hospital had 46 buildings and a combined floor area
of 143,000 square feet, had 100 HP worth of boilers for heating and
even had its own bio-filtration sewerage system plant.
The US Navy occupied it until April 1944 during which time the
Public Works Dept. provided maintenance and services. Afterwards
the hospital was taken over by the (then) Wellington Hospital Board
and it then became known as Silverstream Hospital. The hospital was
closed in 1990 by the Wellington Area Health Board at which time it
was being used as a long-stay geriatric hospital. The site has
since changed ownership and is now known as the Silverstream Park
Christian Centre and contains conference facilities that can
support up to 700 people.
The Puzzle
The published co-ordinates are within the hospital site itself but
the cache is not there as this is private land. Do not go
there! The cache is actually located in an area of the Hutt
River Trail that is overlooked by some of the old Hospital
buildings. To determine the precise co-ordinates of the cache, you
will need to look at the attached map of the old Silverstream
Hospital complex and fill in the gaps with the appropriate numbers
from the legend e.g. boiler room (24) + bag room (28) = 52,
etc.
S (X-Ray + Pharmacy) deg 0(Gym).0(Surgery + Incinerator + Crews
Quarters)
E (Theatre)4 deg (Chapel + Nurses’ Quarters).(Recreation
Department)6
Check your solution
About the cache
NOTE: The original micro-cache was muggled between 2-14 February
2009. I have now replaced with a small cache, updated the cache
co-ordinates, and added a new logsheet with the original finders
transcribed on it. Hopefully this one lasts a little longer... The
new cache is a small camo'd Sistema container containing a pencil,
sharpener, log sheet, and a few small swaps.
Thanks goes out to bjtrekker for supplying the original
cache container as a “treasure” in one of his previous
caches!
When finished please make sure that the cache is replaced
*exactly* as found to help prevent it being muggled again.
FTF medals created & designed by bjtrekker