2008-11-26 -34 138

Wed 26 Nov 2008 in -34,138: -34.8994949, 138.7211041 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Photos will be up shortly.

Location

In the top end of Morialta Conservation Park, in native scrub, just 200m from a monster 1m x 1m x .5m geocache, SA's second largest (if only I'd realised at the time) and 40m from South Australia's most famous walking trail.

People

A very tired looking UnwiseOwl.

Narrative

When the co-ordinates came out at 1am in the morning, I was most pleased to see a reachable point in the Northern graticule. However, I realised that there was no time after work the following day to collect the hash, and that if I wanted it I was going to have to get up early, and if I wanted a sunrise geohash I was going to have to be at the hashpoint by 5:30 in the morning. So I scribbled some co-ords and went to bed for 3 hours or so.

When the morning came, I managed (with great difficult and much groaning at alarms) to drag myself out of bed and into the car. A short drive up the hill and I was in the beautiful Morialta Conservation Park bathed in the half-dawn light. A pleasant 500m walk to the cache would have been more pleasant if it wasn't for the power lines crackling overhead, spoiling the peaceful birdcalls somewhat, but at least they provide a nice contrast for my photographs.

I marked the point I left South Australia's principal walking trail, the 1500km Heysen Trail, which snakes it's way from the beach at Cape Jarvis through the Adelaide hills to the spectacualr Flinders Ranges (one day I intend to walk the whole thing) and the hash with chalk, and then went crazy with the camera. Before you ask, yes, those are my pyjamas. A wander back to the top of the hill to catch the first rays of the sun, and then back to the car, where I realised I didn't have my car-keys. After a slightly more frantic trip back to the hashsite, I found them half-buried in the sand. Not for the first time, I found myself feeling more than a bit thankful that things didn't go so much worse than they could have while geohashing.

On the trip home I laughed at the dozens of early morning bike riders testing their skill against the hill with various levels of success. I imagine if they knew what I was doing that they would have laughed too.

Ribbons Earnt

UnwiseOwl earned the Sunrise Geohash Achievement by reaching the (-34, 138) geohash on 2008-11-26 to smile at the first rays of sun to cross the horizon.

Photos

Coming soon to a hashlog near you!