2008-10-06 -33 151
| Mon 6 Oct 2008 in -33,151: -33.8069921, 151.1466470 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Contents
Location
Located amongst dense bushland in an industrial area at the end of Sirius Road, Lane Cove. On the map and satellite this one looked like it should be fairly easy. It turned out it wasn't...
Attendees
Visit #1
Visit #2
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CJ & Gormster earned the Land geohash achievement
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CJ & Gormster earned the One with Nature Geohash Achievement
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CJ & Gormster earned the Meet-up achievement
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Report
flowblok's Report
I set off at 3:30, expecting it to be relatively easy to get to - it would have been, however, a lack of preperation meant that I didn't notice that Orion Road was actually Sam Johnson Way where it meets Epping Road, and the Google Maps top-down image looked nothing like my Real Life front-on view.
At 3:55-ish I headed into a bit of bushland north of the geohash, spent about 15 minutes following trails, and then giving up and heading home at 4:30.
CJ and Gormster's Report
Based on the maps and the satellite images this geohash looked like it would be fairly easy. Not to mention it was located less than 3km from where I (CJ) live. I had intended to walk to the hash location, but the threat of a storm, meant that I drove down to the area. I had arranged to meet with Gormster (whom I hadn't met before) at 4pm at the end of Sirius Rd as the hashpoint was 'easily' located just beyond the end of the road in amongst some trees.
I arrived about 10 minutes early to discover that this was going to be a geohash that was far from easy. What the satellite images had not been able to show was that at the end of the road was in fact a large, steep cliff and extremely dense bushland. There was absolutely no way we could just walk past the end of the road to the hashpoint.
I started to wander around to look for another way to get down to the hashpoint. A nearby side street looked promising, but a construction site with a locked gate prevented access. It was at this point that I saw another car come down the street and park near mine. This had to be a fellow geohasher. No-one else was anywhere to be seen in the industrial area as it was a Public Holiday. I was right - it turned out to be Gormster. He very quickly realised that this was not going to be as easy as it first looked, but we were determined to find a way to get to the actual location.
After consulting some maps and Gormster's iPhone we tried what looked like an access point to the river further up the road between two buildings. Unfortunately our way was once again barred by a high mesh fence with barbed wire. Whilst standing here, lamenting how to get past these barriers, we noticed a couple of people walking their dogs in a clearing down below. We knew that if we could get to that clearing we could attempt to bush-bash along to the hashpoint. Now to find out how to get to where those other people were...
We decided to go further up the road to another side street. Success! There was a walking track that went down beside the river. After following the track along the boardwalk, through some bushland, and along beside the mangroves we crossed paths with the couple walking their dogs. Now we knew we were finally getting somewhere! We continued on for a while until we came to the clearing that we had seen from above. From here we had to leave the path, cross the grass, make our way around a fence and enter the dense bushland.
The going was slow at times, and we came across some interesting things in that bush. There were remains of some very old pipelines and retaining walls, and we also found two car wrecks. Not really sure how they got to be there, but they must have come over the cliff at some time many years ago, and than rolled quite some distance to where they now laid.
After many checks on the map printouts and Gormster's iPhone we finally reached the exact location. It had taken around 45 minutes to get here, and yet we knew our cars we right above us not more than 50m away - but hey that's what makes Geohashing fun - meeting new people and having an adventure. Little did we know that our adventure was far from over...
We hung out at the hashpoint for a little while, Gormster helped his Mum choose a new TV over the phone, and we marked our location on an old pipeline which was right on the hashpoint. From there we decided to continue down the hill as we could see some kind of buildings and cleared area below us. There was no way to go straight up to the cars. We went down the hill, jumped a branch of the creek that was only 30cm wide and found ourselves standing in the far back corner of an industrial facility. We reasoned that from here there must be any easy way out to the road, and so we set off.
We found the carpark, and then realised that there were two ways to leave. We headed for the road that was closest to our cars (the other option would have put us around half an hour (at least) away from where we wanted to be). As we were walking along beside the building we began to get the feeling that we were in an area that we really shoudn't be in. There were security cameras everywhere, and something just felt like we were not meant to be there. Being a Public Holiday though, the place was completely deserted. We walked past their warehouse, and that's when things felt really strange. The place was totally deserted, and yet the doors of the warehouse were wide open. We could easily have wandered in and taken any of their stock. Something wasn't right. Why was everything wide open when there was no-one around?
As we turned the corner and found the road we were after we discovered the reason. We were on the WRONG SIDE of a locked security gate. No-one was getting into here from the outside. The only problem was that we had managed to by coming through the dense bush, and now we had to get out somehow! I think we achieved some kind of strange reverse-No-Trespassing...
As we got closer to the gate we discovered that it was slightly broken and we might be able to squeeze through. I went first, and got through. It was tight, but I made it. Gormster then followed, however he wasn't having quite as much luck in slipping through. After a few minutes of being stuck he pulled through, and we left as quickly as possible.
What an adventure! Mission successful.
Photos
The cliff over which the hashpoint was located
We had to go on a long bushwalk instead. Along the boardwalk...
Past the mangroves...
Through the grasslands...
Along the fence of a construction site...
And into this kind of dense bushland.
We found one wrecked car...
And then another.
Finally we reached the hashpoint!
CJ and Gormster
Leaving a reminder of our visit
On our way out we found the back of an industrial facility...
Turned out we were on the wrong side of a locked security gate!
Gormster climbs back OUT through the gate. "Stop taking photos and bloody help me!"
