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By the Billabong LbNA #22815

Owner:Boots Tex
Plant date:Jun 6, 2006
Location:
City:Spring
County:Harris
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Found by: Stepping By Faith
Last found:Jan 25, 2014
Status:FFFFFFFFFaaaFFFF
Last edited:Jun 6, 2006
This box was replaced 6-2-08 with the same image and very near where the original box was placed, so should be considered the same box. It is located at the Mercer Arboretum & Botanical Gardens in Spring, Texas. Go east on 1960 from the Hardy Toll Road. Turn north onto Aldine Westfield Road. Watch for the signs and you will come to a stoplight at the Gardens. Turn left into the Arboretum side for this letterbox. Park and look for the map board at the trail heads and intersections and study the map. Find a bench by the billabong, sit on it, and look over your left shoulder.

“WALTZING MATILDA”

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited ‘til his billy boiled
“Who’ll come a–Waltzing Matilda with me?”

A swagman is an Australian hobo. Matilda isn’t his girl, it’s his bundle; you know, the cloth bag that holds his belongings and hangs from a stick that he carries over his shoulder. “Waltzing” actually means walking, not dancing. So, “Who’ll come walk down the road with me with my bundle on my back?”

Clues:

Once there was a letterbox, lying by the billabong,
Find four trees standing all in a row,
Three of them are pines and if you look there by the middle one,
I'll be a-waltzing Matilda you know!

12-19-08 The tree broke off at the base during Hurricane Ike. The box is now inside the splintered stump.

Mosquitos are general bad in the summer time, so take precautions. They're not so bad in the morning. Recover the box well. Bring along a bag and pick up some litter as you walk. Be sure, as you go back out, to cross the road to the Botanical Gardens, you'll be glad you did.