2014-11-22 -36 174

Location

Woodhill Forest, Muriwai, Auckland

Participants

Jacksonz

Plans

I had a few hours to spare around 4pm on a Sarurday, so I checked for a viable Geohash. The hash was near Muriwai Beach within Woodhill Forest, which is a privately owned forest on public land which allows public access for recreational use. I wasn't sure whether to drive to Muriwai Beach and up the Coast Road, or to head to one of the forestry access roads further north, such as Restall Rd, or Rimmer Rd. Muriwai Beach is actually designated as a public road, but although my car is 4wd, it is a normal station wagon, with standard road tyres, so I didn't want to risk driving on soft sand getting onto and off the beach.

I was familiar with parts of Woodhill Forest from doing Orienteering events there, accessing the forest from Restall Rd, but had never done mountain-biking there. So I decided to make it more of an expedition, by driving up to Rimmer Rd, which should get me to the edge of the forest, and then use my mountain bike to ride to ground zero.

Expedition

Drove up the north-western motorway and State Highway 16 to Rimmer Rd. Was surprised at how far north it was - almost all the way to Helensville. The start of Rimmer Rd had a "Beach 9km" sign pointed at it, which I found interesting. I drove down Rimmer Road, and just after passing a driveway with advertising signs, I came to an intersection which had both roads marked as "No Beach Access". I returned to the driveway to find that it was actually a continuation of Rimmer Road into the forest, with gates locked at 6pm. It being only 3:40 I wasn't unduly concerned.

I drove through the forest until I came to a parking area, from which the road continued into soft sand leading over sand dunes to the beach. I parked there (-36.705368, 174.347446) and got my mountain bike out to ride along a trail running parallel to the beach, heading southeast towards ground zero. Unfortunately, the trail was marked "No Cycling", so I rode back up Rimmer Rd about half a kilometre to a trail I'd seen on the way in. This one wasn't marked, so I rode southeast along it. After another half-k or so it joined onto a single track road, joining from the northeast, turning to the southeast. The northeast road was marked "Wrong Way" so I surmissed that this was a 4wd track for offroaders to play. I continued southeast, keeping an ear out for and vehicle noises, but didn't encounter any.

I came to a crossroads, which had the righthand road heading towards ground zero, so I turned right. After awhile the road stopped because ahead was a cleared area of forest, with lots of broken branches and tree stumps littering the terrain. I had passed ground zero anyway, so I backtracked a little then headed 80m north into the forest to find groundzero.

The Geohash phone app announced that I was there, so I took a photo in each direction, and then went to photograph my GPS, but it was saying that I was at S36°42.610' E174°21.423' which was about 200m from what I thought was ground zero. Bizarre. The phone and the GPS were equally adamant that they were right. The location the GPS was suggesting was close to the end of the road where I had just been, so I proceeded back to the end of the road, and continued the 40m further (pushing my bike over the broken pine tree branches) until the GPS confirmed I was at the right place. The GPS app on the phone reluctantly agreed that it was about right, but the Geohash app was still sure it was 189m back towards where I was. Weird.

Took photos in each direction, and headed for home.

I now realise my mistake. I am used to using degrees and decimal minutes on my phone and GPS for geocaching, whereas the Geohash app uses decimal degrees. Hence, the Geohash app was looking for -36.7102331, 174.3570493 whereas I was looking for -36°42.710, 174°21.357. It was right, I was wrong, so here are the first set of photos I took.

Photos

GeoHash 20141122 North.jpg

View to the North
GeoHash 20141122 East.jpg

View to the East
GeoHash 20141122 South.jpg

View to the South
GeoHash 20141122 West.jpg

View to the West


Sat 22 Nov 2014 in -36,174: -36.7102331, 174.3570493 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox