2016-08-16 -15 135

Location

In the bush next to Towns River, opposite the camping ground on the Savannah Way.

Participants

Felix Dance (talk)

Expedition

I'm still on my Darwin to Cairns cycle tour mentioned in my previous geohash along the way (2016-08-06 -13 131), and, just starting along the notorious Savannah Way, I happened to get my first bit of reception in several days at the Tomato Island camping ground. Obviously, I checked the geohashes because why not although pfft way out here in the bush what's the point and WOAH! An achievable one only 860m off the road... 200m from my planned campsite! What are the odds!? (75 thousand to one).

So off I went, 80 kms of rough, unsealed, sandy, corrugated awfulness... of awesomenes! Although I'd planned to do the 80 kms anyway, knowing that I just HAD to do it made it that much worse.

Late in the afternoon, as the sun was nearing its final resting place on the horizon (I hear folks say this is not the case), I was there. Towns River crossed the road at a ford, and angry signs warned of the croc danger. Heedful of these, I rode off into the bush, dropped the bike and proceeded on foot along the left bank of the river. A few obvious claw marks from recent croc emergences helpfully marked the way.

After about half an hour of bush scrambling, picking off broken twigs and bright yellow spiders, I emerged into a big clearing, a dried up billabong. Here lay the hash. I took photos and returned, far more smugly than I really deserved to be. I told myself stories of my exploits that night around my campfire just opposite the river from the hash.