2009-01-01 -36 146

Thu 1 Jan 2009 in -36,146: -36.3784381, 146.8331568 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

This was going to be the easiest geohash imaginable. Drive out past Yackandandah, along Back Creek Road, until Escarpment Rd. I know Australian bush trails, Escarpment Rd was going to be some fire track, I'd have to walk the couple of kilometres along it too the hash (which was just off in the bush).

Two things ruined this plan. Escarpment means some kind of cliff, and Escarpment Rd didn't exist. The closest I could get was some distance from the hash.

I caught a lift with a friend, who dropped me at what we estimated was "where Escarpment Rd should be". They would be back in two hours, I would have plenty of time to explore the area...

I trekked down from Back Crk Road, through the bush, until I happened upon a clearing. I went across the clearing, and across the dry creek at the bottom. My GPS was point me straight up the hill. Only a few hundred metres...

I ascended 91.5 metres (GPS does altitude as well as locale), it took me a bloody hour pushing through the bush, and I was still "a hundred metres" from my destination. Time was running out, my lift would be back soon, and I was exhausted. I declared myself defeated at 36 22' 37.67, 146 49' 52.91. I took a photo, left a message, and walked back.

I did see an echidna. That kind of made up for things.

Kieran earned the Done with Nature consolation prize by failing to reach the (-36, 146) geohash on 2009-01-01.

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  The track I started on

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  An echidna!

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  The bottom of the gully

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  Evidence of recent bush fires

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  A wombat hole with very recent diggings

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  The view from the point at which I called it quits

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  The mandatory head shot

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  A creek (dry) that I crossed

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  A photo of the clearing (taken on the way back)

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  The hill that conquered me (taken from clearing on way back)

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  Eucalypts recovering from fire

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  A tree.