May 2018 Challenge: The 8th Ancient Wonder

[Weery]

This is great

I've stared at it for a good 10 minutes now and I'm no closer to saving the world but I love the originality all the same!

I'll try more tomorrow when I'm supposed to be working...

[bkh1914]

This isn't the sort of puzzle I normally indulge in, but:
The paragraph formatting in the letter jumped out at me.
The first two paragraphs are not indented, the second two are indented.
Even in handwritten text, people normally use a single and consistent style.

Does it mean something?

I would guess that it does, but I have no idea what it could mean.

[damonjynx]

I'm assuming the code is the handwritten bits on the stamps (-DT.HHVTY, etc.)? I minored in entomology and would be better suited to figuring out actual bugs, not armed competitors, but I shall do my best! If the Timor Sea/Kimberley stamp has importance to the puzzle beyond the hand-written code, would you mind uploading a higher res image of just that stamp? There's a lot of text that's too small to read. (I'm having the same issue with some of my stamps. I really like the presentation/layout I'm using, but it requires losing some detail on the stamps themselves.)

Jen, you are correct. The handwritten text on the stamps is the code. The stamps otherwise serve as markers for the general location, nothing more.

@Weery, glad you like it. Thought I'd try and be a bit different, while sticking to my strengths and create something kind of interactive...

@bkh1914, the paragraph formatting may indeed be a clue of sorts. I'll give you a bonus clue; the 2nd paragraph is a bit of an error/happy accident and should've been either part of the first paragraph or indented but I'm not changing it as it serves an unintended purpose.

Google Maps is your friend...

Thanks for the comments folks.

[ChickPea]

This is a wonderfully imaginative entry! I'll need to have a look at the puzzle when I've more time...

[damonjynx]

This is a wonderfully imaginative entry! I'll need to have a look at the puzzle when I've more time...

Thanks ChickPea. Have fun with it!

If voting closes before anyone solves the puzzle, I'll post some pointers in the finished maps thread for this entry.

[aeshnidae]

If voting closes before anyone solves the puzzle, I'll post some pointers in the finished maps thread for this entry.

Phew, that's good to know! You'd think I'd be better at these at this point, having played through the various puzzles that JJ Abrams sprinkles through his TV shows. (Presently I've hacked into the Delos website and am exploring unseen Westworld content.)

[Weery]

I've tried a few times now but I'm not getting any closer to solving this. It's very tough.

And I'm not certain that Google maps actually is my friend

[damonjynx]

I've tried a few times now but I'm not getting any closer to solving this. It's very tough.

And I'm not certain that Google maps actually is my friend

Glad you're bamboozled by the code and having a bit of fun with it.

If it were easy there wouldn't be a point to all the cloak-and-dagger, would there?

The code is a basic substitution code; look for those letters in the text; BKH1914's post is a very good clue.

Obviously, the hero, Jack West Jnr, if it were in a book, would know how to decode the message, his group would have a standard methodology for such things.

I'll provide further clues in my finished maps thread after voting is finished if no-one gets the correct answer before then.