2016-09-23 -43 172

Location

Crater Rim Walkway, above Cass Bay, Christchurch

Participants

The Quaternary (talk) family geohashers

Plans

Wohoo - a hash right next to a walkway in the hills above town. I thought we'd wait until we had a quorum of the Quaternary geohashers (well I guess I quorum is one, but that is not so much fun), and so we left it until the end of the day, so that we could enjoy a family walk while striking out to the hash.

Expedition

That evening three of us set out. Waiting until work was done for the day meant we didn't set out until it was about 6:15pm. Fifteen minutes before sunset, 45 minutes until it would be dark - should only be a 30 minute drive to get there, followed by a 10 minute walk - sweet.

Unfortunately, as we got about two kilometres from the hash, we found the road was closed - d'oh - of course - this road has been closed since the Christchurch earthquake of 2011. Nevermind, we'd have to finish it off on foot. So climbing the stile of the Crater Rim Walkway, that would take us to within about 40 metres of the hash, we set off ... the falling mist made it seem even gloomier ...

Well it was a bit of an adventure scrambling about the hills in the dark, but the hashers were happy ("so glad I came," declared the youngest hasher; his mother grunted a reply so as to mean "me too").

But it seems such a shame, dear reader, to deprive you of the lovely countryside. But don't fret, this is the third hash we've done on the southern flanks of these hills, so check out 2015-10-18 -43 172 and 2015-10-31 -43 172, a few kilometres to the east and a few kilometres to the west of this locale, to see what it looks like during the day.

Tracklog

Photos

Views of the city at dusk as we looked towards the North. The hash is on the South side of the ridge.
The road was closed! We'd have to make the last 2-3 kilometres on foot.
So climbing the stile of the Crater Rim Walkway, we set off as the cloud descended.
About half way to the hash it was finally pitch dark, with only the light of the iPhone to guide us; it was rather rough underfoot as we paused to admire the glow from the Lyttelton Port.
We left the track and stumbled around in the dark for the last 40 metres or so until we found the hash. And one of us was blinded by the flash of the phone camera.
The hash point - dang it, forgot the date!
View from the hash, towards Lyttelton Port, at night, through cloud.
We walked back a slightly different route which made use of the road, and admired the city lights ...
... while one of our party liberated a Pokemon Go gym (whatever that is).