2010-01-24 -37 145

Location

Edge of a reserve, south of Woori Yallock, Melbourne

Participants

Kozz + 2 drag alongs

Plans

We'll be heading out to the hashpoint with a target arrival time of about 4pm.

Expedition

The hash looked like it'd be easy enough to get to with Google Maps showing the access point as a strip of green, which often means 'public reserve'. The satellite view showed a strip of trees next to a road, and the Street View view of the start of the access road showed a promising-looking reserve signs. Beautiful - an outdoor hash, a nice day, and an area I'd never been to before.

After successfully dragooning friends into coming along and managing the GPS and satnav to get to the hashpoint, I picked up the drag-alongs and hit the road about 3pm. The drive was straightforward enough, taking us east of the city along the Maroondah highway, through part of the Yarra Valley wine region - absolutely beautiful on a summer day with blue skies above, rolling green fields around, and a lot to see and do.

We missed the turn off the main road and had to U-turn a little way further down. Heading along the road towards the entry to the green zone, all was looking good. A Victoria Parks ute in a driveway; long stretches of dusty gravel roads leading down into the trees; surely success was imminent?

In a word: no. We pulled up to the closest point to the hashpoint, and disembarked from the car. A driveway, complete with gate and 'NO TRESPASSERS' sign, blocked our progress. We went on aways, thinking perhaps there would be easy access to a streamside path right to the hashpoint, but had absolutely no luck. Went back to the driveway with the Victoria Parks ute; it was clearly marked 'Private Property'. We retraced our steps, trying to find access to the other side of the impeding line of properties, but ended up going kilometres the wrong way to gain only a few metres. We gave consideration to leaving the road on foot and bush-bashing along the stream to the hashpoint, but there were no paths, the undergrowth was dense and we weren't prepared to trespass for 1.8km in order to get to the hashpoint.

We returned to the road's closest point to the hash, and took the necessary proof photos - closest to hash: 298m. I was determined to get at least some reward for the drive, so we picked up some geotrash on the way back to the car and dropped it off at the Yellingbo Roadhouse. Stopped for an ice cream then spent a relaxing evening on the deck with beer in hand reviewing the Hall of Amazingness stories from all around the world.

Failed; No public access.