2025-06-27 -37 144
| Fri 27 Jun 2025 in -37,144: -37.7078959, 144.9666304 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Location
Outside the front door of a house in Fawkner, in Melbourne's northen suburbs.
Participants
Expedition
There are points inside houses, or in backyards. I don't go to these. There are points in driveways, that seem fine - take a couple of steps up someone's driveway, and out again. No problem.
But a point right outside someone's front door? What a conundrum.
I ponder it as I ride north. I'm following a route calculated to pick up a few extra squadratinhos. For the uninitiated, Squadrats is a kind of game vaguely similar to geohashing, in which you try to do Strava activities that venture into as many different areas as possible, as defined by an arcane system of grid cells with silly names like "squadratinhos" and "ubersquadrat".
Like Geohashing, it can encourage you to explore areas that you otherwise wouldn't. Which is why I'm suddenly making a strange detour through a business park in north Coburg, discovering a number of businesses that all seem to specialise in food preparation. Cypriot food. Gelato. And to my surprise, a van belonging to one of my local bakers.
As I get closer, I consider the ethics of approaching someone's front door. We recently had an election, and broadly everyone seems ok with the that candidates will knock on thousands of doors soliciting for votes. And charities knock on doors wanting money. And sometimes real estate agents knock on doors doing whatever slimey things they feel like doing that day.
And yet...somehow all these activities seem a bit more legitimate than just walking up to someone's front door, recording a GPS location, then leaving.
My main concern is I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. I'd hate anyone to think they're about to get robbed or something. As if there's some real risk that thieves case houses on bicycle, while wearing high vis. But, still.
The most straightforward approach, if for some reason someone asks me what I'm doing there, seems to be to lie.
Last week, I was in a different part of Fawkner, picking up some board games I'd bought from someone online. Let's just re-use that scenario? If I get to the door and someone asks who I am, I'll say: "Alex? I'm picking up board games?" and they'll say "No" and I'll confirm the wrong address, and they'll say "oh, that's the next street over" and I'll pretend to be embarrassed and off I'll scurry, and they'll be none the wiser.
Of course, that's not what happens.
When I arrive, the house is actually more approachable than I expected. There's no front fence, and the front door is only maybe 4 metres from the footpath. So, I park the bike, and quickly stroll up to the door. Then I make a half-hearted pantomime of looking more closely at the phone "oh gosh! I don't think this is the right address!" and go back to my bike. I attempt to take a screenshot of my location in the process, but apparently fail at this straightforward task.
The ride home is nice. More places I've never been, parks to explore, and then old familiar Merri Creek.
Photos
I'm sorry, there's a lot going on in this photo.
Achievements
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Stevage earned the Bicycle geohash achievement
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