2016-11-02 -43 172

Location

Christchurch, New Zealand

Participants

The Quaternary (talk) family geohashers

Plans

Checking the Geohash for the morning was a big surprise - the hash appeared right on top of our location! Zooming in it was clear it was very close - indeed, only 450 metres as the proverbial flies.

Expedition

What a unique opportunity to knock off a few achievements. So we settled on the Walk geohash (well that wasn't going to be too hard), the Tron achievement (by entering and exiting from opposite ends of the street, and not crossing our path), the Hobbit achievement (travelling hobbit style: barefoot, fed, and bearing a ring), and the Couch Potato Geohash (honorable mention).

Unfortunately it took until the end of the day to get a quorum together for our expedition, and the amount of daylight time was quickly diminishing. So unfortunately we did not have enough time to add any hairs to our feet. But we did find time to throw off our shoes and socks, hurriedly prepare some elevensies, put the ring on a string, and print off the geohash poster.

For the rest of the adventure, see the photos. But needless to say, we knocked of a hat-trick + 1 of Achievements.

Tracklog

Photos

Setting off from the hobbit hole, the two hobbits have their vittles in hand and chosen the initial Ring Bearer
Half way to the hash - all of around 200 metres traversed, it was time for some nourishment. Cheese and tomato sandwiches - delicious. We also took this opportunity to change the Ring Bearer. Note: not wanting to be a spoiler, but this seat is also the spot that we inadvertently discovered our first Geocache, which then led onto ... Geohashing! Like the ring itself, this adventure was turning full circle. Speaking of which, we were careful not to cross our paths during this repose.
Much to my sorrow, the smaller of the two hobbits was somewhat distracted in our quest by some Pokemon - oh the shame.
Being part of Tron Quest, we didn't quite know what side of this fence the hash was going to be, so we zig-zagged on the far side until we were satisfied that the hash really was on the other side of the fence. (The fence was surrounding a car-park extension.) So we reached the hash just as it was really starting to get dark. The hash is about one metre in front of the hash poster...
... just here!
The Fendalton New World [1] supermarket graces the locale of today's geohash. A Turner's family business since 1936.
Heading home on our circuitous route, we stop again for a bit of a snack. This time we eat our rather appropriately named Kiwifruit. However, in the distance future sceptics will peer at this blurry photo and ask - "Did they really deserve the Hobbit Achievement or is this a carefully construed Fake? Is that really a hobbit? Is that ring really the true one ring? And is that food he's holding or a frog?" Dear readers, we ask you to judge for yourselves.
Our route for the Tron Achievement. The little cul-de-sac looking detour is where the Hobbits had their first meal.
Detail of our Tron route as we staked out the hash - zig-zagging to the hash so that we wouldn't cross our path.
Two days and a deluge of rain later, the hash poster is still there :)