Do NOT enter
drains. Read this warning!
The
Happy Land
Rating:
3rd
January 2001.
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It is rare these days to find a completely new and undiscovered drain right in the middle of suburbia. One day, while out driving around trying to find out where another drain emerges I happened across what appeared to be a new drain. I wandered over to where I thought another drain I knew might exit. To my surprise I spotted what appeared to be a large double barrel arch drain. I raced back to my car, grabbed my flashlight and went back to explore the drain.
I was approaching the drain with great anticipation. Was this a new drain? It was not on any location sheets that I had, and I had been provided with the latest. I examined the local graffiti, there was plenty of it, but none from any other regular drain explorers, and no stickers. I was amazed. I went over my location sheet three times, this drain wasn't on any sheet at all. With all the associated features I was quite surprised.
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As I approached the drain I began to realise that the entrances were not arches at all. There was also an optical illusion that gave the impression that the drain was bigger than it really was. The entrance was great, layers of old graffiti melded into one. As I approached closer I looked for signs of past explorers and found none. I could see none. I was still amazed that this drain could have been overlooked. Still, there were other drains not far from it and it drained water in a completely different direction. In fact, given that I knew of another drain about two kilometers away that headed straight towards this one I was amazed that this one was where it was. I knew already that the other drain did not meet up with this one.
The entrance of the drain was unique. I'd not seen anything like it before in a UA City drain, except perhaps BURP drain. There was a pair of RCPs that merged into one drain that led off downstream. If the drain overflowed it would fill up a retarded basin (yeah I know I spelled it wrong) and then flow down a big BURP style overflow pipe.
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I explored the drain despite the clouds. It didn't rain even 4 hours later so it was safe. The forecasts didn't say rain till evening. Still it was a bit edgy. The downstream drain emerged after about 400 metres and a couple of curves into an open drain. From here I took the middle drain into the overflow pipe. It was great. The echoes in this pipe were incredible. They were louder than the actual noise I made.
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I decided to name this drain The Happy Land because not only is there a drain but there is also the overflow and other above ground features here. This is also named after Happy Land in a certain US college tunnel.
10/12/00
Happy Land has an upstream exit! Yes it was a hell of a walk, with many a slippery RCP section discovered but your drain researcher discovered that Happy Land main tunnel does indeed have an exit. The left tunnel of the main pair has an exit an amazing 50 minutes up the drain. Allowing a for a swift walking pace with slow walking at the two slippery bits the journey took 50 minutes to reach the end of this drain. The end was not exactly where I expected it, but was at one of two places I figured it should come out near. The last minute of walking required a nasty stoop, but was worth it.
Do NOT enter drains. Read this warning!
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