Abandoned app

Oh, the highs and then the lows...
I was checking out WebUrbanist (as usual) when I came across the 'Abandoned app'.

Half the fun of exploring abandoned places is the hunt – stumbling upon obscure sites, or determining the precise location of better-known ones with a collection of vague clues from previous urban explorers. It’s not a great idea to have hordes of curious people descending upon crumbling ruins and dilapidated structures for obvious reasons, ranging from trespassing laws to dangerous conditions. But for abandoned places aficionados who’d rather cut to the chase, the ‘Abandoned’ iPhone app by The FORM pinpoints locations on a map.

Explore modern day ruins from empty mental asylums to shipwrecks under the Great Lakes. Discover the history and location of dead amusement parks, overgrown hospitals, forgotten hotels and creepy ghost towns.

Great I think where can I get it...then think...check the fine print - is it worldwide or only American - damn it's limited to the United States and Canada

Still I read on though - the community-based app relies on user input to determine where abandoned sites are located. And beyond mere maps, the app allows you to post photos and stories of your own adventures and to store a private log of your own locations if you don’t want to share with others. 

Follow the footsteps of other explorers, or post photos and stories of your own adventures. Uncover legends in your own home town, or venture across the country to submerged cities, crumbling prisons and deserted graveyards.

-          GPS mapping automatically locates and displays abandoned places near you

-          Immersive photos put you right at the scene

-          Read and share comments, reviews and experiences about each location

-          Community-driven content means there’s always something new to explore

-          Upload your own abandoned locations with descriptions and photos

-          Contribute to someone else’s locations with your own photos and comments

-          Store a private log of your own locations

-          View in state-by-state list format, or dynamic map

-          Automatic updates when new locations are added

-          1-5 star ratings for each location

-          Explore for fun or use for scouting film locations and photo shoots

Urban exploration has long relied upon word-of-mouth. In many cases, people in the know share information about certain sites only with others who can be trusted not to damage the site, call attention to themselves, or take risks that could result in injuries. For that reason, this app might receive mixed response from dedicated urban explorers, and those interested in keeping certain sites secret from the public at large. But on the other hand, a lot of abandoned sites are in serious need of attention, and the sooner they’re saved, the more of their history can be preserved.


It is available @ the iTunes store, just can't wait till there is an Australian version.  

Armchair traveller

Explore Sydney like never before Has Sydney always been on your travel wishlist?  Now you can try before you fly.   Discover Sydney Harbour,  Bondi Beach,  Taronga Zoo,  Palm Beach & Barrenjoey,  the Hunter Valley  in fully interactive 360 degrees with five fantastic fly-over videos. Each clip is just over one minute and has been filmed from a helicopter (I know it will be the only time I fly over the Harbour Bridge). You can control the view via your mouse - pan or zoom. Unfortunately the Palm Beach one doesn't do a fly-over of Barrenjoey Lighthouse and does a hover out from the beach instead (missed opportunity to my mind). Link to Sydney 360

Boy-o-boy

Boyeo in the 1880s (J.Pickering)

I was on a mission to photograph the schools or school sites across the Wimmera region, and after spending the day searching for plaques or signposts, usually surrounded by a ring of sugar gums, I was on the lookout for the Boyeo site. I knew it had been sold at auction, so was amazed to see the wooden building across a paddock. After negotiating an arm of what in winter would be swamp,arrived at the precariously leaning Boyeo School building. 

My first view of the school building

Boyeo School No. 2577 (formerly Tarranginnie North became Boyeo in 1888) opened in February 1884 in a temporary building with an iron roof, timber floor, 2 doors & 1 window built by selectors, on Patterson’s selection. A 2 acre site was gazetted 15.5.1885, near the southeast corner of a block largely taken up by a large swamp. 

In 1885 the Department erected a timber building with an attached four-room residence. An underground tank was provided in 1887. The Boyeo Post Office was established in the residence in 1888, changing the name from Tarranginnie North to Boyeo. In 1898 permission was given to construct an underground room to combat the excessive heat. By 1910 in an unusually wetter year, the school was completely surrounded by water. Children arrived in boats or waded knee-deep (the school closed from September until January). It finally closed in February 1944.

This is essentially the published article submitted by Joan Pickering (Joan Beacom attended Boyeo in the 1930s) in the “Vision and realisation” book. Fortunately the Library also has her book "Tarranginnie Schools" which has a section devoted to the Boyeo school.

The swamp - interesting to park a school near it - in 1909 the teacher Janet McVicar found "the school is almost surrounded by a swamp and the flies and other insects are often so troublesome that the children have to work in a state of torment", she was requesting a wire door & wire windows.

The sagging residence held up by its chimney

The flood of August 1910 led to the school becoming an island, some parents refused to send their children till the water receded. A month later the school closed when the water rose to cover the schoolhouse floor, entered the outlet pipe of the underground tank,polluting it. The water fell at the end of the year, but rose again with February rains. There were several attempts to shift the school but with no agreement, it remained perched on the edge of the swamp.

The rear of the school faces the prevailing winds

At the other extreme - The underground room was requested by the teacher Thomas Posser as his wife and child had found the heat so intense he had been obliged to send them away to Western Port. He proposed to excavate 8' square by 6' deep with wooden steps leading down, a roof of iron with hessian beneath, with a draught pipe, and whitewashed walls. The Department did not object, provided he filled the hole in should he cease teaching at the school.

The heavily raftered roof gives it stability

Like many other small schools Boyeo suffered from bouts of measles, whooping cough and scarletina. The children (with assistance) tended a school garden and trees for Arbor Days (they won the prize for best garden). And finally like most rural schools it succumbed to declining attendance and closed in 1944, and the school building was sold at auction in Kaniva.

The old weatherboard building still sits on a rise above the timbered swamp, part of a Crown Land red-gum reserve. Erected in March 1886 it has stood for 127 years, 63 of them as an abandoned, derelict structure. Its stability must be due to the construction which has the rafters spaced only a couple of feet apart, though how much longer this will be true is uncertain. I spent nearly an hour strolling around the school, peering in through the doors and windows, checking out the bits and pieces strewn around the yard.

Some of the detritus, yes I found its mate about 20 metres away

Awesome Arapiles

Have just uploaded my Postcards Project video.


Awesome Arapiles from Ros Ryan on Vimeo.
It is the result of my ABC Open Postcards classes. The aim of the Project is to 'create short video postcards from weird and wonderful places around Australia. Discover or create your own postcard about a place you want to share'.
This short film is no George Lucas or Peter Jackson production, but a huge learning experience.

 A couple of stats

• one day of filming = 1 minute 26 seconds of video
• 90%  of the film was left on the cutting room floor

Keep out!

You have to read this book - 100 places you will never visit : the world's most secret locations by Daniel Smith  - as the chances of actually visiting the places listed is not possible/highly unlikely/illegal...

Ever wondered what it takes to get into Fort Knox? Fancied a peek inside the Coca-Cola Safety Deposit Box? Would you dare to visit Three Mile Island? The world is full of secret places that we either don't know about, or couldn't visit even if we wanted to. 

Gaza tunnel

Sometimes they lie under our feet: London's Whitehall tunnels, Moscow's hidden subway, and the Gaza Strip smuggling passages, or they are so confidential that their existence is not even acknowledged by governments: the USA's Mount Weather Emergency Operations Centre, and Mount Baekdu in North Korea a mountain lair purportedly built by Kim Jong-il.
 
A series of tunnels has been dug beneath the barrier separating Egypt and the Gaza Strip (a border that has long been subject to an Israeli blockade). The tunnels are used for smuggling people, transporting illicit food supplies, and contraband ranging from arms & explosives to recreational drugs.

Now you can glimpse the Tora Bora caves in Afghanistan, visit the Tuscon Titan Missile Site, tour the Vatican Archives, or see the Chapel of the Ark. 
 

The seal in the lobby of the headquarters building

The only secure way to see these shadowy and mysterious facilities, this fascinating guide book takes a look at 100 places around the world that are either so hard to reach, so closely guarded, or so secret that they are virtually impossible to visit any other way.

The US Central Intelligence Agency in Langley Viriginia is among the most secure buildings on the globe. The CIA is responsible for providing intelligence on matters of national security to Washington, and operating a network of spies around the world.

 
There are three Australian entries - the Woomera Rocket Range, Pine Gap, and the headquarters of the Joint Operational Command. Why can't they be interesting sites like the Amber Room, the Vatican Secret Archives, or the Skywalker Ranch instead of scientific-military facilities.
This is one time when reading the book is better than actually being there...
100 places you will never visit : the world's most secret locations by Daniel Smith.