2023-08-01 -20 139

Tue 1 Aug 2023 in -20,139: -20.8353497, 139.5060387 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

A few Km south of town along Duchess road, between the so-called Mount MacArthur and the point where Sybella Creek meets the Leichardt River, although both will be dry at this time of year.

Participants

• umbrellaPrince

Plans

The first Good shot at this Graticule! I've been paying attention to Geohashing for a little over a year now, and have been excitedly keeping track of the points day-to-day to see if they're achievable, and this is the first one that I've spotted, live on the day, that looks like it'll be a fair attempt.

For context the Mt Isa graticule and it's surrounds are pretty inhospitable, sparsely populated and bushwalking is strongly discouraged. The heat and lay of the land, including limited cell coverage means that journeying more than a Km or two from roads is not only challenging but risky. Good news is that this point is about 20m from the road. While it may lie on Private property, the "private property" will be a part of a larger million+ acre property or cattle station, and failing a sign on the nearest section of fence, local attitudes are such that brief incursions are fine, provided they don't involve camping or damage to the property or cattle.

The Plan is to work how to view my own coordinates without cell coverage, and drive out before sunset and wander over. I will probably drag my darling partner in crime out with me for the drive, and may even pick up a drink from somewhere for the road before we go. I will aim for a 6pm arrival, just incase anyone else out there wanted to tag along.

Expedition

Unprovable success!

The south road is a lot less road than I had initially assumed, as the dual lane tarred road (one each way) ended at the edge of town, and the single lane (one shared lane, with gravel either side to allow passing) ended a few KM after the last gate, meaning the rest of the drive out was on dirt and gravel. Fortunately my Car handled it brilliantly, and within 15 mins of departing at around 5:45 we were standing on the point, or at least my character in pokemon go was. We were likely a meter or two short, but as far as my (low service) phone and google maps were concerned we had our toes on it.

There was a low fence in the way, which we debated passing but upon looking at the height of the scrub and grass (and thus the odds of a snake encounter, in a very venomous-snake-region) figured we were as close as we would be able to prove we attended either way, and called it quits. Unfortunately there is nothing Identifying about the tree the point is under featured in our made-it selfie.

We took our stupid Grin selfie, caught a Pokémon or two each on Pokémon Go and cleared out to go play some Minecraft and water my yard, back the way we came.

Tracklog

I don't have a GPS or way to prove my location yet :) so I guess I'll be re-attempting this graticule as soon as another reachable point rears its head, and hopefully by then I'll have a way to pull my tracklog.