2009-05-26 -37 145

Location

Just south of Coldstream, 5kms north of Lilydale, off Ingram Road near what turned out to be a private road.

Participants

User:Felix Dance

Who Went

Felix Dance

Once I'd got two consecutive geohashes under my belt from the previous two days I knew I was going to attempt the next one, and sure enough I did.

After coming home from work, meeting some people at Melbourne Uni, and getting to Melbourne Central Train Station at 8:41pm, I was on my way. I had my bike with me and allowed exactly 40 minutes to reach the geohash about 6kms north of Lilydale station in order to get the train home in time for a proper night sleep.

I raced from Lilydale to Ingram Road in about 15 minutes, then abandoned my road bike to walk along a disused path, which I soon realised was the wrong way (very dark), so I had to double back - very conscious of losing time.

The first entrance into what turned out to be a private road was open, but exposed to an occupied farmhouse on a nearby hill, so I rode around to the other end of the road from the trafficked Ingram Road, 1km up the hill. The gate was closed for another nearby house but I jumped over anyway (sorry about that, residents, if you're reading this!).

After walking up the path, to within 250m of the hash point, I realised that I was running badly out of time and needed to get back, and that this house was also occupied and even closer to the road - I could see that the TV was on. There would be no way around the house without being seen or heard. So I did what I had to do and gave up.

Just as I was jumping back over the gate, a cop car raced up towards me with sirens blasting.... !!! But, they were apprehending a P-Plater hoon (who had been driving along the otherwise fairly quiet Ingram Road) and weren't interested in me.

I raced back to Lilydale at over 30kms/hour after taking a couple of photos of the gate and the GPS (the flash would've given me away in the property). However, I did have the effort and unfocus to appreciate the brilliant starscape from my bike, which I don't usually see from inner Melbourne. I just made it to the station with 15 seconds to spare (the next train to Flinders St was in an hour).

Reading a book on the return trip I got back home just after 11:30pm - not bad timing for an evening geohash adventure.

In retrospect, it was a good thing I failed at this one, despite the frustration of being within 250m of my destination and being unable to reach it), because the following day's geohash was also within riding distance of a railway station and I would have been tempted to give up yet another evening to reach it, getting four consecutive geohashes.