2022-04-14 -37 144

Thu 14 Apr 2022 in -37,144: -37.8193677, 144.9549772 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

At the very edge of a tall building in the Melbourne CBD.

Participants

• Felix Dance
• Stevage

Expedition

It didn't look promising. A point 30 metres back from the footpath, either inside a building, or worse, on the boundary between two adjacent buildings. StreetView showed some kind of narrow alleyway, behind a very tall, and most probably, very locked, gate. And yet, in we went. For CBD hashes are incredibly rare (only one expedition, by Felix in 2020), and thus extra special. Felix estimated our chances of success at 30%. I said 5%. We both agreed there was a high chance of indeterminate result.

We met at Princes Park and rode down together, surviving a journey through the Roundabout of Death to begin our fascinating foray into the urban exploration.

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  According to Bing Maps, just outside the building.

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  According to Google Maps...well, who knows, because the image is clearly taken from a big angle. That thing that looks like a park in the bottom right is actually a childcare several storeys up.

• 

  According to Mapbox, just outside the building.

Attempt 1

After confirming that the gate in question was, indeed, locked (and very tall), we headed into the tall building to the east, wandering from floor to floor and trying to mentally map where we were within the building against the satellite imagery we had seen. We visited the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages on the 17th floor (fortunately no need to concoct a story to get inside, it wouldn't have gotten us closer), Yooralla on the 14th floor, a random stairwell, and the staff toilets on the ground floor. At various points, our phones reported us being only 10 metres from the point, but it's hard to take indoor position reports seriously.

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  Trying in vain to enter the laneway the easy way

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  Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

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  Exploring random stairwells

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  Top of the building next to hash

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  Amazing coffee machine

Attempt 2

After looking more closely at the outside of the building, and checking Mapbox imagery instead of Google Maps, we concluded that probably the point was actually just outside the building, in that narrow alleyway. We headed around to Spencer St on the west and looked for a way that might get us close in. We eventually found a carpark attached to a hotel, which didn't look like we were supposed to walk into it (ok, it had a PEDESTRIANS PROHIBITED sign), but we strode purposefully in and weren't challenged. As carparks go, it was pretty interesting - old bluestone walls painted over, and a very large, strange object wrapped up in cardboard and stored next to some old bike racks. A giant fan? A chandelier? Who knows. Again, the phones were reporting a proximity of around 10 metres, but it didn't feel real.

• 

  Striding purposefully into a carpark

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  What on earth is hiding in this cardboard? Leave your answers in the comments below.

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  Steve in the carpark trying to reach the hash

Attempt 3

Continuing our circumnavigation, we now entered another carpark on the south side of the point, on Flinders Lane. Although the ground floor seemed too far east of the point, it looked like the upper floors extended much closer to it. We again strode in, and started scouting out a way to the upper floors. It felt a bit like a level of a first person shooter game - wandering around a carkpark looking at it from a completely non-parking-related perspective.

Eventually we were drawn towards a stairwell in the direction of the hash, and, stairwells being stairwells, decided to go upstairs. There was an emergency exit pleading with the public not to use it, but also secretly hinting to us that we should totally use it to get close to the hash. We couldn't let it down.

We popped open the door, and, lo! We were at the other end of the laneway we had seen at the start! Jubilation! Felix dropped his high vis vest to keep the door from locking us out, while we scanned up and down to work out the exact point. This time, the phone location was reporting us as being much further away, but that didn't seem relevant. We could see from the shape of the building and the imagery the exact location of the hash, so we went there. And took a photo at it. Just to cover all his bases, Felix then climbed over another high gate next to the point, while I got nervous about security camera at the other end of the laneway.

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  Wandering into another carpark...

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  Wandering more...

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  The forbidden laneway is no longer forbidden!

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  Success!

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  Felix makes extra sure.

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  GPS not-quite proof

Aftermath

We then followed our tracks back to our bikes, and discovered that most likely the gate that was "locked" was only locked from the outside - we could probably have just pushed it straight open to get out from the hash. We mulled this fact over on the way to beers at the Mitre Tavern, where fortune again favoured us with the last remaining outdoor table. Hooray!

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  Celebrating at the pub

Tracklog

Nailed it.

Felix Dance's track (much worse resolution at the hash).

Achievements

User:Felix Dance and Steve earned the Bicycle geohash achievement by cycling 16 kms to and from the (-37, 144) geohash on 2022-04-14.