2013-03-06 -37 144
| Wed 6 Mar 2013 in -37,144: -37.5990502, 144.5606729 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Location
On a rocky hill half way between Melton and Gisborne.
Who went
Expedition
At 8pm it was still pretty warm in Melbourne, the BOM tell me 31.3 degrees but it was considerably warmer than that inside the house as we don't believe in air conditioning. I decided I had to get out of the house until it was cool enough to sleep and geohashing was the answer. It was only a 50k ride and I had 4 hours and I had some friends at The Corkman Pub in Cartlton so I went down there for a while. I left the pub at 9:20 heading for the hash near Melton. I wasn't sure exactly what route I would take but I knew the area I was going through fairly well and i had a few options. In Keilor I decided to take the Calder Freeway instead of Melton Highway. I had looked up where you were allowed to ride on the Calder freeway on months ago but apparently misremembered. You aren't allowed on til Sunshine avenue with good reason. My first few km of the freeway had no emergency lane so i was in the lane with the rest of the traffic having to change lanes to avoid me, I was in hi vis with good lights so it didn't matter too much. After not too long on the freeway I was surprised to see a snake slither out onto the road in front of me which gave be quite a fright and I swerved to avoid it. As i recovered from the shock riding along with my heart racing another one slithered out about 100m later. The best explanation I could come up with for why two snakes came out of the grass onto the road at the same time is that it was not long after sunset and the bitumen was warmer than the grass they had been in.
After the snakes there was very little excitement, I rode as far as my bike would take me stashing the bike behind a tree and climbing the barbed wire fence into a paddock. The paddock seemed empty but I could hear a loud clanging from a fence not to far off, some lare animal was obviously having a disagreement with it, as i was wearing a t-shirt with a rhino on it i decided it was probably a rhino. The first 300m in the paddock were easy til I hit a fence, after climbing it the terrain became rocky with lots of pittosporum and kangaroo apple trees as I headed up the hill. I made it to the hash at 11:54 pm - plenty of time to spare. I waited around til midnight to get the midnight hash achievement and then headed home.
The ride home was a lot slower than the ride there even though it should have been an easier ride. I did most of the climbing on the way there and could role most of the way home but I was getting pretty tired. I stopped in Diggers rest for about 10 minutes at 1:30 to check the new hash points and decided they could wait until after sleep, my phone was also at 1% battery so i would have to charge it before anymore geohashing. As i was riding through Taylors Lakes i was getting really tired and was struggling to keep my eyes open, so I found a patch of grass in the shade of a street sign and had a nap. I don't know how long i slept for as I wasn't wearing a watch but I was awoken by a man walking along the footpath whitsling and smoking a pipe. He was wearing a singlet and was incredibly muscley. He reminded me a lot of Popeye. Since i was awake again i thought it best to keep riding home but this didn't last long. In Keilor I was falling asleep again so i pulled over and lay down under a pine tree, this place was much more comfortable than the previous and i was asleep in no time. Once again I don't know how long I was there for but i was rudely awoken by a horrible stinging feeling in my ankle. I had a look but at first couldn't work out what it was. After a short while jumping around and yelling most likely looking like a fool I found a bull ant biting my ankle through my sock. After this I thought it best not to sleep any more and rode home. Arriving at 4am.
Total distance ridden 98.6km plus ~900m walking. If I'd known how close I was to a 100k trip I'd have ridden around the block before going home.
Photos
Me at the hash.
Midnight proof.
GPS.
Achievement
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Lachie earned the Bicycle geohash achievement
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Lachie earned the Midnight Geohash achievement
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