2014-02-24 -37 144

Location

Williamstown Rd, Seddon.

Participants

Expedition

I was very excited the previous Saturday to discover that the geohashing location for the upcoming Monday was so close to my house, certainly the closest I've ever seen it, only about 2.5kms away, and not only that, it was conveniently located on a public road! I decided that I would have to do something more interesting than just going there and back, since the area was very familiar to me and a quick ride to and from would hold no great adventure. Looking through the list of achievements, I decided that I would endeavour to do both the Hobbit achievement and the Tron achievement. The Tron achievement didn't quite happen in the end, but there was certainly hobbitty success.

I forged a ring by cutting the top out of a wine bottle cap that was lying around, and I was almost ready to go. Even though the achievement requirements don't specify, I thought it was against the spirit of the achievement to deliberately hold off from eating until I'd begun my journey, and so I had a good bite to eat at home in addition to my two subsequent food stops. Having eaten, I was definitely ready to go.

I intended to stop by Nhu Lan Bakery in Footscray for my first food stop, but it being 1pm it was very busy with a queue stretching out the door, so I walked on, safe in the knowledge that there are plenty of food options on a walk from Footscray to Seddon. I ended up first getting food at a bakery on Victoria St Seddon, and you can see me angrily eating a pasty in the photo in the gallery. Also spotted in Seddon was the excellent fruit shop who had the slogan "Fruit for thought".

I then continued my journey, by this point wondering if the barefootedness was really a good idea as the day was warm and the footpaths were very warm, in addition to their general abrasiveness. But I did make it to the hash successfully. Located smack bang in the middle of a fairly busy road I did have limited opportunity to be at the hashpoint itself. But I waited for a gap in the traffic, walked out to where google's satellite images said the hash exactly was, tried to take a photo and then crossed over to the other side. The camera hadn't worked, so I tried again. This time was better. I then crossed a third time this time to take a photo particularly of my bare feet. At last I was done, but the crossing back and forth had invalidated me for the Tron achievement unfortunately.

At this stage with achy feet and running out of time to get back home in time to then head out to uni in time to play a gig, I decided not to walk the 2.5kms back. I went to the nearby West Footscray station and to find a train in 5mins, which I could catch the couple of stops back into central Footscray, and with the Tron achievement gone I didn't need to worry about the fact that the railway crossed back over my path.

Arriving at Footscray station, I touched off and then topped up my myki, (its balance having plummeted to $-1.60) and made my way back to the now much calmer Nhu Lan bakery to get myself a lovely Tofu roll. 'Twas this on which I munched, as I hobbled the 500m or so back home, avoiding the broken glass, and hugging the cooler shady patches, to make life as easy as possible for my battered feet.

Gallery

At my front door, ring on finger and nothing on my feet
Angry pasty eating.
"Fruit for thought"
As a location proof, here's street view's view from the hash
And my own, with a few years of growth added to the trees in the yard of the left house
With ring, at hash
Barefoot, at hash
Tofu roll, with ring