2024-09-29 -37 145

Sun 29 Sep 2024 in -37,145: -37.9799051, 145.6292511 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

In the bush in Bunyip State Park, east of Melbourne.

Participants

• Stevage
• KT

Expedition

The build-up

KT and I have no plans, the weather is rubbish, and we need an adventure. We pick up the phone, call dial-an-adventure, and team up with the Mighty Yaris on a grand voyage into the hills. To where it all began.

16 years ago, Felix and I battled mud, rain, cold and flat tyres to cycle to our first ever geohash, in an inconspicuous spot in Bunyip State Park. Today's spot is just a few hundred metres further east. Same place, but everything else is different. Different, older, people. A car instead of bikes. Ok, actually, the weather is the same: grey, drizzly and cold.

If you disregard my clumsy mishandling of the Yaris' manual gearbox, the drive is uneventful. That is, until we almost pass a parked doughnut van, and KT utters the fateful words, "Do you want to get a doughnut?" I do. And the fates are kind, and soon we have two hot jam doughnuts, deliciously fresh and crisp.

Driving through Emerald, we cross Puffing Billy's tracks for the first time. For KT, this might be the first time in her life. She can't stop giggling. As an almost-qualified real life professional train driver, she is used to Proper Train Tracks that are Victorian Broad Gauge, 1600 millimetres apart and not a millimetre less, if you don't mind. This track looks like a toy train. A mere 2 foot and 6 inches apart, 762 millimetres on a good day. What is this, a train track for ants?

As usual, we are pony-spotting. I spot one, but she thinks it's a sheep, so it doesn't count. Then she sees one, but I'm watching the road, so once again, it's an unconfirmed sighting. It takes two sightings to confirm a report, but that's hard to come by, and by the time we arrive, it's still unproven if there are any ponies in the whole region.

• 

  The beginnings of a great moment.

The launch

We arrive at the sodden launch site and make preparations. For once, we have thought ahead. I don overpants, a rain jacket, and boots. KT dons boots and wields an umbrella. The undergrowth looks most damp.

In we plunge. I lead the charge. The undergrowth is quite unusual: dominated completely by a single species of shrub that I don't recognise at all. I stomp forth. KT stomps fifth, reporting on my deviations from the correct line. And there are many deviations to report on.

And then we arrive at a point like all the others. Charred tree trunks, the same shrubs all around. We satisfy our respective devices and record the moment for posterity.

Our exit proceeds in similar fashion, enlivened briefly by my stepping into an invisible wombat hole. I'm uninjured, but suddenly a foot lower than previously. Undaunted, we tromp on, finding the Yaris none the worse for wear. In high spirits, we climb in and peel of our wet layers.

And then it happens.

• 

  Full of hope and optimism

• 

  Success!

• 

  View from the hash

• 

  What is this plant?

The twist

"LEEECH!"

KT has found something. It's a leech. She turns around. I verify. It's a leech. I'm to flick it off.

I flick. It resists. I flick. It resists. I grab. I miss. I grab again. It's really quite happy where it is, thanks. I drop the attempts at elegance and scrabble around and eventually it goes.

And then there's another. And another. There are many leeches. They're on my jacket. And on my hand. I remove one from my hand, and succeed in transferring it to my other. And then back to the first. They're grippy little things.

KT's mental state, buoyant just a few moments ago, is rapidly unravelling. She loves almost any creature, and particularly a mischievous one, but these leeches are something else. They're penetrating her psyche in a disturbing way. She keeps finding more. Every dark leaf or tiny stick starts to look like a leech.

Eventually after layers are removed and many leeches dealt with, we declare an uneasy victory. I remember about the one that somehow got flicked into the driver side door pocket, and deal with that one too.

We turn the Yaris around, flee the Bunyip and find lunch in Gembrook. And it is delightful.

Photos

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  One leech of many

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  Lunch