2013-02-20 -37 144

Wed 20 Feb 2013 in -37,144: -37.6554927, 144.2887369 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

In a paddock near Ballan

Participants

• Lachlan Gordon

Planning

My plan was to get two geohashes in one day, this being my second. See 2013-02-20_-37_145 for the first one.

Expedition

I left my previous hash at 1:42pm on foot for the first bit then bike for the rest planning on going to the Ballan hash via Yarra Glen- Kinglake - Whittlesea - Mount Macedon.

My first stop was to fill up my water bottles at a petrol station in Yarry Glen. I've filled up my water bottle at the outdoor tap at hundreds (or at least dozens) of petrol station all over Victoria and never had a problem other than Beaufort where even at 3am the water is warm and tastes like dirt.

The water from the tap from the petrol station at Yarra Glen tasted a lot like petrol but I didn't notice until I'd already had a few mouthfuls. I went to the tap in the bathroom and rinsed out both my bottles several times but couldn't quite get rid of the taste. I informed the shopkeep that the water at the tap tasted like petrol but he didn't seem to care and told me it wasn't drinking water.

I continued my ride up to Kinglake and passed the bus shelter in Pheasant Creek where I almost spent the night on a previous hash trip. The Kinglake to Kinglake west stretch of the ride is a lot more pleasant than I remembered not having seen anything on my last trip you are riding along a ridge for most of it with good views both ways with gentle undulating hills. The last few km to Whittlesea is a relaxing moderately steep descent that you can roll down very fast without trying. At some point between Kinglake West and Whitlesea I started feeling incredibly tired and slightly nauseous. In Whittlesea I decided i was not up for the original planned route of going over Mount Macedon and that I would take a short cut going through Mickleham knocking about 60km off the route. I continued on the shorter route and turned into Donnybrook road, about 1km down it (up it, it's quite steep) my vision was getting blurry and i could barely stay on my bike. I'm not sure if this was due to drinking too much petrol, being dehydrated(it was a hot day and I'd been hesitant to drink much water due to the petrol taste) or my just being a sookly lala. ~200k more riding was definitely not an option so i went home opting for the 8k ride to South Morang station rather than the 30km directly home. My only consolation being I'd never caught a train on the South Morang line before.

Within 10 minutes of getting on the train I felt perfectly fine and deeply regretted my decision.