2008-06-07 -35 149

Sat 7 Jun 2008 in -35,149: -35.5017842, 149.1143708 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Joanna, Nemo, Llandorin, Helen, Psud, and the tamagotchis Helen and Ahaly met in the suburb of Banks, on the extreme south of Canberra, in the hopes that they could travel by car on dirt roads much of the way. Unfortunately the gate was locked. That pushed the walk up to just under 3km each way. With mountains.

Llandorin suggested we access the point from the other side of the mountains, still a similar walk, but probably on flatter ground. Apathy overruled him.

We started by skirting one of the taller hills, following animal tracks or no tracks at all. We dodged wild roses, discussed Eliza Day (after whom Nemo's car is named) and wondered whether the abundant rosehips were safe to eat. Psud though they were (but that they wouldn't taste good). Google was unwilling to help.

tamaHelen sang for us.

humanHelen found a rock.

We battled through Ti tree (Leptospermum scoparium) happy in the knowledge that its oil had disinfecting properties, so any injuries sustained from the tree would be automatically disinfected.

We then reached a spot on the side of a mountain. It was just over a kilometer (as the crow flies) from where we started walking, and a similar distance to the hash.

The end of the line. It was only getting worse...

There were cliffs.

Llandorin explored.

It turned out that there was no path that would get us to the hash and back in anything like daylight. And we didn't want to be in the bush at night, for fear of dropbears.

So, given the cliffs and the sort of stuff we had trudged through to get where we were, we decided to follow good hiking practice and return along the ridges and hilltops, where vegetation is thinner and hills are smaller.

After a while we found ourselves on an actual human track. It lead to a trig point and wind sock. We got to the top of the last hill - from which we could see our cars - as the Sun set. Helen wanted to climb on the trig point.

We made our way down the incredibly steep hill. Psud helped Helen, and carried tamaHelen and Ahaly. We found a flat piece of ground, then reached our cars.

We got a 19th Century style group photo.

Nemo had found that there was a path that his car could follow. Joanna didn't want to go driving into the mountains on fire trails with a strange man (and no matter how many times you've met him, Nemo is strange!

Joanna reports that once again she was not murdered by nemo.

Llandorin checked out the alternate route, and found that it faced cliffs. So lacking rock climbing equipment, this hash was unreachable.

• The Geohashers
• 

  Joanna

• 

  Helen

• 

  Nemo

• 

  Llandorin

• 

  Psud

• 

  TamaHelen

• 

  TamaAhaly

• The Expedition
• 

  We found a locked gate. The road behind it didn't go far enough anyway.

• 

  We followed nemo to an alternate point.

• 

  There was an unlocked gate. It's road was less than useful too.

• 

  We were ready!

• 

  We found kangaroos.

• 

  Helen found flowers - Royal Bluebells.

• 

  We found hills.

• 

  Beautiful hills.

• 

  The landscape was steep.

• 

  Helen had to run occasionally to keep up.

• 

  The bush thickened - Ti tree!

• 

  This is as far as we got, before mother nature stopped us. We're her bitch. 1.2km from the hash.

• 

  This is close to as high as we got. 200m above where we parked.

• 

  In the grand scheme of things, even the largest geohashers are tiny.

• 

  This windsock varied between indicating "windy" and "very windy".

• 

  We don't know why there was a hole in this tree. But the trig point has a purpose.

• 

  Joanna and Psud stand on a ridge. Note the reverse angle photo here

• 

  Nemo wondered whether he could see his house from here.

• 

  We could see the tower.

• 

  We were out too long. It became evening.

• 

  But we were in sight of our cars. Only a 1:1 slope between us and them.

• 

  Llandorin negotiates the slope...

• 

  We survived!