2013-02-23 -37 145

Location

In a park near Lysterfield, just off Wellington Rd

Participants

Felix Dance, Lachie

Expedition

Lachie, I (Felix) and some others were at the pub in Melbourne's suburb of Abbottsford when we decided to stay up until 1:30am and check the coords. I said I would do this hash if it was within the 25% most accessible of all possible geohashes. In preparation for the hash, Lachie and I jumped on our bikes with the intention to ride back to my place so I could swap to a less fixed-wheel bike and we'd be closer to the centre of radial roads.

However, on the way there, my having-been-pumped-up-to-just-beyond-max-pressure back tyre popped. I called our mutual friend Mitch, who was working late at a nearby brewery, and he swung passed and allowed me to borrow his bike, while he kept my blown one in his place nearby.

With bikes, we then gained coordinates: near Lysterfield park, about 40kms away. Too easy, we were off. Lachie directed us to the Gardener's Creek Trail, then onto the Princes Highway, much quieter as now quite late on a Friday night. We stopped for Hungry Jacks, I not having fed enough. Pretty easy night riding to get to the point.

Arriving onto a dirt side street, we heard dogs barking and were quite worried they were loose and would soon be on us. Luckily they seemed fenced-off, so we investigated the barbed wire fence to gain entry to hash-land.

Cutting my leg scaling said-barbed wire fence, and soaking my nice chequered shorts in blood, we jumped into the park, walked around for a bit, found the hash and took photos. Then it was back over the fence and back home. We took EastLink, a major tollway I had some small hand in building many years ago, riding on the actual bitumen surface rather than the adjacent and confusing bike path. On the way in on Canterbury Rd, I got so tired I started hallucinating animals on the side of the road and people stepping out in front of me. Soon I was having micro-sleeps in which I would wake up as my arms were having to compensate for me starting to fall off my bike. Not very safe, so I directed Lachie to engage me in conversation until I was back. We arrived at our respective homes as the sun rose, just after 7am. I slept for a few hours before heading to my dad's 65th birthday lunch, then off to my friend's 30th birthday dinner, then ANOTHER all-nighter at Melbourne's White Night Festival.

Not overly-sleeped as I type this up...

Here is the route we took.