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Torquay, Australia
38° 19' S 144° 18' E
May 03, 2004 08:24
Distance 16km

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Stopped at a sundial

Text written in: English

Torquay is really only known for three things: good surfing, SurfWorld Museum, and a big ol' sundial. Not having much interest in surfing, we thought we'd at least check out the sundial. It's a mosaic, made of ceramic tiles with native animals all around the edges. According to the pamphlet:
"The Torquay sundial is assembled in a traditional time honoured method of mosaic using more than 120,000 glass Tesserae tiles. The mosaic tiles are laid on an eight metre diameter concrete slab in a natural setting overlooking the ocean and coastline. The Torquay sundial represents traditional dreaming stories of the Wathaurong (Geelong) area including Midii the ever watchful Snake, his Dreaming Tracks, and Bunjil the eagle, Creator and overseer. The central theme of the mosaic depicts moon phases, star constellations, the ocean, sand dunes and coastal Torquay, including its precious local flora and fauna."
You stand in the middle, on the current month as painted on the body of the eagle in the centre, and then your shadow tells you the time. Shockingly, it worked.

If you're wondering why this merits its own entry, it's primarily to keep the map accurate.