2009-05-05 -41 174

Participants

tjm1983 and a Ninja Geohasher who helpfully took some photos

Plans

After many long months, watching this mostly-water graticule, I was surprised to discover a hashpoint apparently in Lower Hutt, where I live. My hopes rose. I zoomed in. The hashpoint looked like it wasn't just in Lower Hutt, it was actually close to where I live. My hopes rose. I zoomed in more. It really was close to where I live, and might even be on a residential street somewhere. My hopes rose. I zoomed in more. It was on a hill, not a residential street. Those hills are covered in prickly gorse. My hopes fell. I zoomed in more. It was right next to a firebreak on the hill, not far above where the firebreak joins a residential street. I've walked past it several times before. My hopes rose. I started re-reading the Achievements, deciding how many I could plausibly get. A Couch Potato Hono(u)rable Mention seemed likely, for a start.

Expedition

This was my first attempt since 2008-09-22 -41 174. I've now obtained a Neo Freerunner, but we decided to try for a No Batteries Geohash anyway, based on maps and local knowledge. Since it was so close, we carried a camera and tripod, too.

We stood around discussing where exactly the hashpoint might be, chose a spot, and took enough photos for a complete panorama. The ninja also took a photo of me juggling. Then, I turned on the Freerunner to see how close we were. About 14 metres. Is that close enough for a no-batteries success?

I walked back down the hill a little, till the Freerunner was oscillating between 0 metres and about 3 metres. The ninja took a photo of me at the right spot, I planted a sign there, and took a photo of it. On the way home, I took a few more photos, and kept a tracklog of part of the journey back. At home, the Freerunner indicated we were about 475m from the hashpoint, but it reckoned we'd walked about three times that far.

Tracklog

Tracklog at openstreetmap.org (shows only the track (no background map), but you can download a gpx file, if you want)

Photos

A trig-point (geographical survey marker) near the hash-point
A panorama
Juggling
Only 14 metres away!
It said 0.000 a moment ago, honest!
Waving from the real hashpoint (taken without moving the tripod or zooming in)
The whole internet. All of it.
For the first 20 years of my life, I lived in a house near the centre of this photo, also close enough for a Couch Potato Honourable Mention