2024-06-14 -37 145

Fri 14 Jun 2024 in -37,145: -37.8304534, 145.0095443 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

Next to a bush at the ground floor carpark of a block of flats in Burnley.

Participants

Expedition 1

• Felix

Expedition 2

• Stevage

Expedition 3

• Patrick

Expeditions

Expedition 1

The first thing I did when I woke up was to check the hashes. I'm so used to seeing these way out in the Bay, or off in some farm near Kilmore or somewhere these days that I barely look at the app. But this time I saw the hash was in Burnley and, after initially thinking I'd made a mistake and was looking at an old hash, knew I had to get it.

Annoyingly, had I checked my phone when I woke up briefly overnight, I would have seen that the hash was directly on my route to my work's office in Mount Waverley, which I'd been considering working from up until last night. Had I left the house slightly earlier, I could have simply got off the train at Burnley Station, got the hash, and caught the next train to work. Sadly, I'd decided to go to the Collins St office so I was already too late for this maneuver.

I got ready and left the house about 20 minutes earlier than I would have with no hash. I rode through Carlton and down Spring St in the city, taking Brunton Ave south of the MCG to get to Burnley. I wound my way through the streets until I was at the hash.

On the way I saw that Tom was slightly ahead of me as I rode through Carlton - I could see his location on Google Maps. I decided not to pursue him, though, given my misadventure during a previous hash 2024-03-21 -37 145 - maybe he was actually on a train.

The hash itself was inside a bush, or just next to it, at the surface carpark of a walk-up block of flats. It was also right on the edge of a laneway, so it was very accessible. I walked around a bit to make sure I was right on the point, took some photos, and left.

I took the most direct route to work at the Rialto Towers that I could, crossing the Yarra twice in the process. In the end I made it into the building only 7 minutes late. This blew out to about 20 minutes though, since I don't have a card pass yet and I got trapped inside the bike storage locker waiting for someone to come in and open the door for me. But there haven't seemed to be any long term consequence for my tardiness so I'm going to mark this down as a complete success.

Expedition 2 (Steve)

Before the bit

After a lazy sleep-in, I open my phone and see a notification that Felix has already been to a geohash. Great. It's nice to have some structure in your day, imposed by an external force.

I announce a plan to be at the hash at 3pm, to meet with PwC, and uncharacteristically, actually stick to this plan. I ponder a couple of options before setting off, and decide on a nice little Tron loop: down Wellington St, along the floating bike path on the Yarra, to the hash, then onto the Yarra trail again, up and over the Studley Park hill, and through the back streets home.

The Tron plan doesn't constrain me too much on the way there - there are no bridges requiring loops to upset me. Wellington Street gets the job done, with no fuss, and I cross Victoria St. I go through East Melbourne what seems like the logical way and am surprised to find myself on a street that doesn't feel at all familiar, Powlett St. It's a little bit shocking to see ordinary houses right on the edge of the CBD like this. They must be worth a fortune. There is no traffic, either.

Riding through the MCG carpark can be a bit of a dice roll: sometimes there are random events on and a million people, but on a weekday like this, it's pretty much empty and I cruise straight through.

Up the ramp to cross the train line, the first of four major barriers side by side, with Swan St, the freeway, and the Yarra next in line. On this occasion I'll basically be sandwiched between the freeway and the Yarra for much of it - sometimes under the freeway, sometimes over the river. Never under the river unless something goes terribly wrong.

Just as I'm entering this path, I notice a section of gardens planted out with the gigantesque, prehistoric-looking Gymea Lily. Saying that name in my head immediately got me singing "Cry me a river". I assume it has that effect on everyone.

Past the Burnley rock climbing wall, and I notice a few changes since I went there last. The traverse wall seems to have been radically redesigned. Time to give it another crack. Otherwise, nothing dramatic to report.

The bit

I make a few questionable decisions getting from the path to the hashpoint, but arrive unscathed to find Pwc loitering like someone who's trying not to look like they're there to buy drugs. I offer him some hash, and we scurry into the bushes to document the moment.

After the bit

My Tron journey leads me forwards up this little laneway, which unceremonously ends less than 10 metres later. Fortunately it's not a complete dead end and I can cut across a carpark to find a back-street path onwards.

This takes me to the over-grandly named "Surveyor's Paddock Trail". In reality it's an asphalt path running between the fence of a golf course on one side, and the fence of the freeway on the other. But eventually it leads me past the University of Melbourne's Burnley Campus, and the pull of curiosity is just too strong to ignore. Sight-seeing on a Tron journey is a dangerous proposition, but I'm powerless to resist. See that intriguing gate with the muddy trail and interesting looking gardens just beyond? Do you really expect me to say no to this?

I don't know how to say no to this, and soon I'm treading a very slow almost-but-not-quite-circuitous route through the gardens. Burnley Campus is where they teach horticulture and botany and stuff. I've heard about these gardens, but they're even prettier and more interesting in person.

I survive the perilous crossing without self-intersection (or getting blackmailed by an entprerising cuckold) and connect through to the Yarra trail. I misjudge my entry where the walky bit and the cycley bit are separated by a very steep slope, and find myself in walky purgatory, in cycley mode, but nothing terrible happens.

But if I'm not careful, it might, as up ahead the bike path will do a loop under itself to cross the Yarra on the newly reconstructed bridge. I ponder a few options before going with perhaps the silliest: I just carry my bike up the steps instead of riding up the loop.

The Walmer St climb feels harder and steeper than it should, but the ride down the other side is a delight, and I'm on auto-pilot through to Westgarth St and the Merri Creek Trail. I over-think a similar dilemma at the bridge next to CERES - in reality, I wouldn't be self-intersecting unless I was intending to cross the creek, but I play it safe and get off the path early.

I approach home the long way, and am rewarded for my trouble by the sight of greyhound wearing one of those cute pyjama-top coats. Tell me, is it actually possible for any human to witness such a sight with a smile or at least a little smirk? I didn't think so.

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Photos

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  GPS Proof

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  At the hash

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  Lane

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  Hashsite

Achievements

Felix earned the Bicycle geohash achievement by cycling 17 kms to and from the (-37, 145) geohash on 2024-06-14.