Talk:Melbourne, Australia/2008

From Geohashing

We could include the two lower graticules ((-39, 144) - (-38, 146)) around Geelong and the Mornington Peninsula as part of Melbourne, partly in the interests of community, and partly because there's a fairly high chance of these two regions having a meeting point several meters underwater, so when their point is inaccessible they can come and join in with one of the northern graticules. StJimmy


Appropriate date to use for Weekend meetup

The DOW opening times for our timezone are on Friday at 11:30 PM, which might be a bit late for people to make arrangements to be at places 16 hours later, so we could use the Thursay's opening data if that's more convinient for people, or we could use the local stockmarket. I know they're grappling with this issue over on the main page at the moment, but there's no reason we can't experiment with setups while we're coming up with a unified solution.StJimmy

Agreed that 16 hours is a bit short notice, the other option would be make the meetup on 4:00pm Sunday --Lowman 05:26, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
4pm Sunday would be good, but then again, 16 hours is more in the spirit of a weekday attempt, we wont really know where we are going or how we're going to get there until saturday, which, seems to me, could be half the fun.--Zorg 16:20, 22 May 2008

I think we should use the ASX 200 instead of the DOW. For the Win, of course. Use the Friday close for a Friday evening (say, 6pm?) meet, or for the Sat meet as well. Why aren't any of the other XKCDites around the world using their own exchanges?--b0rken

Well, we need to make a decision soon... ASX or DOW? StJimmy
Could we cheat and use the best one? What would the ASX location be? --Zorg 05:30, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
Okay, so the ASX locations for Saturday the 23rd of May are -37.372065, 144.867022 & -37.372065, 145.867022..... middle of nowhere. The DOW thursday for melbourne east has been the best so far (in terms of, being in the city) but I don't have anyway to get there. Hopefully the friday DOW will give us some love. --Zorg 10:32, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
This has now been solved as using the previous days date in the algorithm--Lowman 23:40, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

How serious people are going to be at attempting weekend meetups

I don't have a car, so i'm only ever going to be able to go to meeting points that aren't too far from the city anyway. I know there is discussion on the front page for a tighter graticule, but i'd definitely use that rather than the west melbourne one. How capable is everyone else in getting places? Zorg

I'll be able to get to anywhere with Public Transport access, or is within ~20k (walking/riding distance) of here StJimmy
Shit, todays is around the corner from your house! Y ou better go! zorg
Lol, it is too.. hopefully Saturday's will be just as accommodating StJimmy
If we are using Thursday's Dow opening, then that would be Saturdays location, yes?--Lowman 01:12, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
Nah, is it really that hard to use fridays opening? Sure, we don't have friday to prepare but that just makes us even more hardcore. However, what is public transport like out to the 22nd's point?
Get a good photo so you can win the Land Geohash achievement. Melbourne represent and all that.
FYI, i live in the CBD so public transport permitting, thats my range.zorg
Heya. Well, I did say I was gonna try to make it, but I can't make it back from Warburton in time for work. Next weekend. You'll see... (sat 31/5) Panacea

Saturday 06th June

This week's potential meetup spots are a poor bunch:

A few K off the coast just past Anglesea; way up NW, pretty much in the middle of nowhere; slightly closer, but still 30km from the nearest train station: Whittlesea; or just off the coast of Phillip Island, which would actually be a fun one to go to if it were slightly more accessible. Again, some opportunities to get water geohash achievements, but not much for those of us without a boat or car. StJimmy

Alas. Next week maybe? Also, it'd be really handy if we had the most recent conversation happening on the bottom of the page, I didn't notice yesterday's till today because it was up on the middle of the page :( Ginnybee

This is not good

So it looks like this weekend (25/05) Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney all managed to reach their Geo Hash locations. Even the Canberra guys gave it a nudge (they didn't make it, but they tried. They probably suffered from not having it in committee for 6 months first). Whither Melbourne!? We've got to start kicking goals and taking names, starting with this weekend.--Lowman 23:40, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

  • I plan on taking a successful group out this saturday. Not sure whether it will be east or west, depends on the vote of my groupies i guess :) Paritybit 11:50, 27 May 2008 (UTC)


Saturday 31st May

So looking at the maps, either theres a quarry near tullamarine airport (west), or somewhere warburton (east). My group of geohashers come from the east and the west, so after a quick vote we have decided on the east. Hope to be there between 3-4pm. Think its a 2-2.5 hour drive from the melbourne CBD. Hope to see someone else there :) Paritybit 15:09, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

  • Hmm scratch that, seemed it updated on the map later than expected, well looks like in heading down to Hampton park in the south east :)
So how did it go? Photos? --Lowman 02:04, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Saturday 21st June *NOTE* 2PM

Due to many people expressing that 4PM is late for this time of year this meet up will take place at 2PM.

Just to get some movement here, several people I know are keen to try this out on Saturday.

I'd like to be in if it's a good location. EDIT: Looks like a no for me. Have super fun!Ginnybee
I'm keen for this Sat. I'm Train/Bike prepared. My GPS is dead. Will aim to be in IRC come 11pm Friday. -- Luther.
I'll probably come along on Sat, will be in IRC early Sat morning (~8am) --Joanna
Unless a friend organises something else, I'll be there if it's somewhere I can get to, and on the irc fridat night etc.
Also I should see if I'm any good at riding a bike any more... - Toeofdoom
I'll definitely be at a Sat 21st June graticule. I'm keeping in touch to a small extent through IRC but mostly through the forum

[http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=16873&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=200 ] - theduffman

I'm in for this sat (assuming it's close enough) I'll keep an eye on the wiki and maybe jump on irc. Also what time to we want to meet? I was thinking closer to 2pm is better, as sunset is just after 5pm. EDIT:Should be there, will be riding my bike from belgrave station. --Talex 07:33, 19 June 2008 (UTC)


Um, was anyone wearing a "Science: it works, bitches" teeshirt today (thursday)? I saw a guy wearing one at a train station, it was freaking awesome Ginnybee
Actually I was wearing one on thursday come to think of it, but I dont think I was at a train station... Also sorry I didnt turn up to the meetup, but yeah, I was at a friends house for a lan. -Toeofdoom
I have no idea what station it would have been, we were on a train adventure and took like three different lines in an hour or so... navy blue teeshirt? Slightly light brown/blondish hair? Boy? Ah, how apparel can bring us together (I once met a fabulous girl because she was wearing a Wizard Angst tee).Ginnybee
It probably wasnt me, really, I checked and I didnt have a train ticket valid for thursday so yeah... If you really want to check there are pictures of me in the pic thread on xkcd. Also, I'll try to make it this saturday, the 28th to the meetup, wherever it is. If only I had a GPS though, haha. -Toeofdoom
Ah, that would have been Talex - he wears that t-shirt and was at a train station for that hash point on that day. I only just noticed this thread, so I couldn't clarify the point earlier. You should have gone to talk to him. Felix Dance 03:09, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Now that the point is know east looks better, but a car is somewhat required. Bruce will be taking passengers from Ringwood station, meeting at 12:20. There are 4 spare seats in the car, reserve below:

  • Seat 1:SHOTGUN Gnattitude
  • Seat 2: joff
  • Seat 3: theduffman (but is also available to drive a second car if required)
  • Seat 4: Luther

Anyone here?

I can't help but notice it's been a few months since anyone has posted here. Is the Melbourne group still active or do I have to go by myself?--Aidan 05:03, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

You should move to Sydney - we geohash all the time! --CJ 05:16, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

If you post in this thread: http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=16873&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=240, most of the geohashers in the area will be email-notified. If you do that, they'll let you know whether they're up for a geohash. ~ theduffman

Yeah, Sydney's great. So's Adelaide, you really shouldn't pay it out. I will be on holiday in Melbourne next week. Mmm... new graticules! It would be nice to find people to go with (and even better if they are willing to go dressed as pirates!) --Kate 05:14, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Back in the game now - been doing about 3 expeditions a month in Melbourne for last little while - you should get back into it. Felix Dance 22:13, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

Twin-Graticule Template

St. Arnaud Bendigo Shepparton Albury Wodonga
Ballarat Melbourne West Melbourne East Maffra
Colac Geelong Berwick Moe
Melbourne, Australia

Hey guys, I just noticed you span two graticules, and thought perhaps you'd be interested in this template joannac and I made.  →

Fully customisable, of course. Feel free to use (or not) as you wish. --Matty 01:02, 30 November 2008 (UTC)