New Zealand Day 2 of competition -Long Distance event

Today we headed North of Auckland to the sandhill and forest map which I have been anticipating for so long.  This one was the drawcard to the whole event for me, and it was as baffling and difficult as expected.

At some stage we chose to register for the short courses rather than the long and we both had had enough at the end of our short courses today.

We drove the hour or so from "home" locked in a stream of traffic (guess where they were mostly  going?) Winding around through towns and across mangrove areas and lovely rolling green hills and flats with pretty pampas grass dotting the landscape.
Finally we were met by a parking marshall a long way from the parking area who warned us to park now or take chances on a boggy paddock.  We opted for common sense with our little rental car.  It might be called a Honda fit, but being bogged is never fitting. This meant we had just added at least 1.2 km of walk to our entry into the event.

Along the way we admired the huge bucks in the deer farm, and the views across the lake nearby.

The brave ones driving in

Views to our right on the way in

Eventually after a lot of walking in squishy mud the event centre came into view. 

I had a fairly early start and Trev was a bit over an hour later, so I headed off soon on my 1000m walk to the start.  This was partly a single dirt track winding through the hilly forest (dodge around the fallen trees etc) and partly a dirt track with thick green grasses towering above head height thickly on either side of the track and a delightful pine needle covering with fresh bright green leafy plants showing occasionally.  We also passed a lovely beach of the lake. I wished I had my camera to show you how tranquil and beautiful it looked. The views into the forest on either side of the track revealed thick vegetation and many lumps and bumps. It was a scary sight which did not reassure. 

The courses were tricky as it was very hard to keep in touch with the detailed map and relate the map to the ground. When I finally get home and download my course it will show lots of little loops and hesitations along the way. I think Trevor managed to stay in touch with the ground better than I did.  

We both came back wet from sweat and the moisture from the vegetation. We think it may also have rained at times, but we  don't really notice it that much once we are out on our courses. 

We both returned to the finish feeling that we had taken way too long, but we were not the only ones who had trouble out there today and in the end we were both 6th!!!

Here are our maps from today. Trev was on course 17 and I was on course 19.

It wasn't a great spot for photos,  and the rain coming and going didn't help the situation either.  In the end we packed up and walked our extra distance again, heading home and doing some "essential" shopping on the way home. (Wine and snacks)

Here are a few of the other sights from today.

Andrew Slattery in the finish chute! 

Chris Franklin

Dante putting in another good finish chute performance.  

Deer on the hill as we walked back to our car.

We saw lots of letterboxes in different colours of plastic.

Scenic view over the lake from the assembly area

On the way home we stopped for fresh strawberry icecream (mixed while we waited from vanilla and frozen strawberries ) which was like having tangy strawberry soft serve.  It was delicious and just what we needed. 

Tomorrow is the relay event.  We are taking a break instead and will have a nice restful bacon and egg morning before heading off from this lovely airbnb and meandering south towards Monday's event. We may not have such good wireless coverage for a while but will upload more when we can. 

New Zealand 2017 -Travelling to Auckland

Thursday 130th April.

A very early alarm had us up and doing the last minute prep before the taxi arrived at 5.20 am to take us to the airport.

As we stood in the check-in line Virgin called our names. We found that they had changed us on to an earlier flight (boarding right now) so that we could catch our connection in Melbourne. Our scheduled flight was delayed. This meant a rush through security and to the other end of the terminal (Murphy's law) with Trevor doing the best he could on his troublesome ankle. It also meant sitting in the spare seats in the middle of 3 on opposite sides of the aisle in row 3.  More leg room ☺ but the company wasn't so good 😕.

In Melbourne we had to find our way to the T2 international terminal and to our flight gate.  We stopped to buy toasted sandwiches (just as well). Our bargain flight did  not include meals , so by the time we made it to our digs in Auckland we were hungry.

The warnings of cyclonic winds had us a bit worried, but the flight was calm and smooth, so we were pretty happy about that.

We had along wait at the international airport for our rental car company to fetch us and take us to their office in the industrial zone near the airport. This gave us a quick catch up with Toni Brown and David Poland etc (also waiting). Then a longish wait for the rental company to check us in, for us to pay the unexpected $1000 bond and pick up our little black Honda. It is pretty underpowered, but should get us around OK, and our bags do fit in the hatch at the back (just).

It took us about an hour to make our way to our home for the next 3 nights (airbnb Bronnie and Andie's sunny upstairs flat). There were a number of road closures- some appeared to be due to planned roadworks, and some due to flooding from recent downpours.  We took a large number of back streets and wondered if our Garmin navigator actually knew where we were going.  We could hear the flood evacuation orders for the Coromandel Peninsula being issued over the radio and felt very sorry for those who had planned a nice relaxed long weekend in that beautiful part of the world. Also happy that we have a roof over our heads and not a tent or swag.

Our location in relation to airport and sprints

We found our place just as expected and it has reliable WiFi which is good and very helpful as we still needed to figure out where the event was for Friday and how we were going to get there! This is certainly not the most organised trip we've been on. We find it really stressful in an unfamiliar place, to try to figure out how long it will take, where we will go etc. They have suggested public transport for today, but we've decided to drive as finding the correct bus, and correct place to get off and then where to go from there is just a bit too much. We still need to register before our runs and expect there to be lots of orienteers in the same boat, which could cause quite a hold up.

It still felt early, but we were tired after a short sleep the night before, so we tipped into bed to rest our tired bodies in preparation for the start of the orienteering tomorrow.  (Sprints at Unitec).

Here are a couple of shots of our living space.  It has lots of window and the sun is streaming in on my back as I sit here this morning writing this catch up blog.I'm lulled into a sense of hope that maybe it will be a lovely day with no rain by the time we are racing early this afternoon. Certainly seems to be shaping up that way right now.

Trev's twisted ankle is holding up to the walking (still painful) and hasn't got very swollen or bruised, so we are hopeful that he will manage the events ahead OK. Will keep you posted on that after today.

Winter

We are going through a bit of cold winter weather at the moment.

Here, in Australia, winter occurs in June, July and August.  We have just passed the shortest day (the winter solstice is the 21st of June). The deciduous trees are losing (or have lost) their leaves, and the hours of daylight are greatly reduced right now.   I get up in the dark in the morning just before 7am, and walk home at 5pm in the fading light just after sunset. I listen to the rain on the roof, and feel thankful for being inside in the warmth.

It is winter, so it's not really surprising that it is cold and wet.  Maybe my perspective has changed because I have loved ones living in the UK at the moment, but I don't seem to be feeling that this weather it is too hard to take. In fact I keep on walking in it and thinking how lucky we are that this is as bad as it gets.

I remember being over in Europe myself this time last year in the summer time, where we stood through a day of bone-chilling rain in Sweden at an orienteering event (when we weren't trying to keep our shoes on our feet as we waded through the bogs on our courses) , and got soaked in torrential rain in Cornwall. And I understand why people migrate from there to Australia for the sunshine. We have just so much of it.

I'm lucky to live close to the coast in South Australia. I'm one of the fortunate majority who live in the temperate weather zone. I used to think it was not very temperate, but these days I appreciate it's nature more somehow. The blue area on the map below is the temperate zone (thanks to the Bureau of Meteorology for the map). If you looked at a coloured map of the population density the blue area would also pretty much reflect the majority of that as well. You would have to extend it up the East coast a bit for the sun-loving Queenslanders who don't mind a bit of humidity.

Some people love the sticky warmth of the north eastern tropical and subtropical areas (pale and dark green) , but personally I can't stand being sweaty without reprieve , let alone the cyclones and dampness.

The inland desert areas (orange) have a special beauty, with the red soil and wide horizons of startling blue sky, but the heat and lack of water makes them a tough place to live for anyone. 

The yellow areas I could compromise on, but it would be nowhere near as comfortable, with times of drought a constant risk, and extremes of temperature so much more, without the soothing weather effect of the sea nearby.

So I'm appreciating the pretty colours of the leaves, the warm fire at night time, and the fact that I have a cosy home to shelter in and a warm husband to cuddle up to. I'm also appreciating that I live in such a wonderful spot in the world. 

WA Day 12 Captain fawcett 4WD track and catching up with the cousins.

We had another idyllic day today and made pretty good use of it, taking our expected 4WD track drive.

The Captain Fawcett track commemorates one of the early pioneers of the district, Captain Theo Fawcett. He held large amounts of land at Pinjarra but realised that he would need heavier land as well. He also took up land near Marradong (on the other side of the Darling Range), and then displayed remarkable bush skills by making his journey directly home through the bush, blazing his way as he went to show the way for his workers.  His blazed track is now the present road between Marradong and Dwellingup that we drove on today.

The commemorative trail starts quite some distance South East of Dwellingup and runs through an area of the Lane Poole Conservation Reserve. Much of it runs along old rail embankments where the trains once hauled timber, but as we found today, the old trestle  rail bridges which we were looking forward to seeing no longer exist.  No doubt the last bushfire destroyed them.

As we entered the forest track at the start of the trail the signs of bushfire were very evident. New growth of palms and xanthorrea was very green among the dark burned wood. Small bright tufts of bright red and lime green shoots were shining translucent in the sunlight  as we navigated the excellent route directions on our brochure and the large mud holes along the way.

The Murray River ran alongside us for the first 15-20 km of the track, before we turned up into drier  country.

Somewhere in there Trev checked the tyres while I took photos of the impressive grass trees, and found the front left down quite a bit. So we took a brief break and used the compressor to pump it up again.  It went fine after that, so we are not sure about the cause.

 Approximately 40km (and 2 hours) later we turned out of the native bush onto a dirt road which soon became a bitumen road, and decided not to bother with the rest of the route, which appeared to follow the black top for the majority of the way. The track is published as 115km long, but it seems that only this 40km or so stretch (and possibly a little at the end) is actually 4WD. After 1 hr,  and only 20km we had been wondering how on earth the track was going to take us about 3 to 4 hours! The bitumen bit explained that.

We crossed over  the rather interesting conveyor belt carrying produce between the large Huntley Bauxite Mine to the Pinjarra refinery and then crossed back under it a few more km along the road after we had headed back towards home. It is pretty noisy.

On the way towards home we pulled in on a lovely old bush track to have our lunch and then took a short look at the tourist railway station (and sculpture) at Dwellingup.

The late afternoon and evening were passed very happily up in Perth catching up with cousin Tim, cousin John and his good wife Lou, and Aunty Joc, who fussed over us and fed us too much good food. We never have long enough with these rellies, so it was a pity to say goodnight and head back towards Mandurah.

We forgot to get a photo of the relatives,  sorry.

Day 7 and 8 of the great Diment Easter road trip.

Since we had very little Internet coverage last night this is an overview of the last couple of days.

We had a lovely leisurely breakfast with Bob yesterday morning before heading off on our separate ways. Below is a map showing approximately our travels for the day.

Planning the drive

As is our way, we tried to find some back roads that we hadn't been on before, and cut through between the  main highways.
You can't really avoid some long and boring stretches when travelling across the country. There is a limit to the time that it is fascinating to consider the numerous open irrigation ditches (carrying water from the Murray River , over 100km away in some spots). The lovely large trees dotted across the paddocks, with their branches reaching to the sky with such balance are beautiful, but once again,  100s of km of them lose their effect. We switched on the ABC news every few hours and drifted along quietly, working away at the kms, enjoying each others company and silently watching the slowly changing landscape. The flat open irrigation gave way to the larger trees around the Murray,  and then the fruit blocks of the Riverina region.

At such times you have time to wonder why the kangaroos always seem to be frozen with their limbs at strange angles as though they died in the middle of some uncontrollable spasm. We tried not to think about why they stink so much.

It is almost meditative, and one of the few times that I have time to let my mind wander where it will, with no pressure of time or planning to be done. The kilometres will not be hurried, so why should I be?

We stopped for lunch at Finley bakery- beating the midday rush, by about 15 minutes and lingering over a shared chocolate  milkshake and cryptic crossword, before getting out of there as it started to get noisy and busy, and admiring the local lake (should have had lunch there instead) with its grassy banks.

We crossed back into Victoria at the river between Barham and Koondrook, and stopped for a cuppa by the river,  watching a big fish trolling along in the shallow muddy waters edge, before heading north a little way towards Swan Hill, passing big lakes. We zig-zagged our way via the narrow Victorian back roads, getting off the road when trucks came along, and toying briefly with the idea of detouring into the eastern part of Wyperfeld National Park.  We decided instead that we would head for a sure destination, and made our way towards the Murray Sunset National Park and the campsite we have used before by the pink lakes.  As it turned out the main camp was pretty full, and we decided that we would drive on in a little further and found an empty camp site near Lake Becking  which seemed to have our name on it.

We had time to climb the sand hill and admire the view over the salt lake in daylight, to unpack, and to do the same again as the sunset put on a show for us.

A very quick and lazy tea was had, as we had filled our stomachs with fruit mid-afternoon before we crossed the border, finishing off the last of our plums and apples rather than throwing them into the fruit fly bins. (Eating fruit at the border is a great SA tradition, but this time we were caught a bit by surprise as we were protecting the interstate orchardists  rather than our own)

Although the internet was too weak for a blog post, a quick Facebook update was composed, and once again we climbed up the slope (this time in search of a better signal) . As we came down Trevor pointed out lots of sand coloured spiders who were reflecting the light from his headtorch like tiny stars from the ground.  Had it not been for the shine we would have no idea they were about as they were so well disguised.

There was a bit of a breeze as we climbed early into our swags,  but it was the first camping night that we had had a clear sky, and I greatly enjoyed lying in my swag admiring the milky way spread out above me while snuggled warmly in my sleeping bag until finally sleep overtook me. It got cool enough to need the bags by about 5am, when we guess it was down to about 7 degrees C.

This morning we broke camp after a more leisurely start, and were on the road by about 10am. With only just over 300 km to go, we knew we had plenty of time, but we stuck to the familiar highway and stopped only for a cup of tea and a loo stop at Lameroo.

We reached home around 2pm and set about washing up, cleaning up and generally getting ourselves sorted out. As I write this Trevor is still washing the Prado, and the second load of clothes are on.

The final leg of the journey

Now all I have to do is figure out what on earth I did on the last day

Here is the map showing control number two which was never found.  (That will come in another blog) and learn from my mistakes.

...Oh, and plan the next trip of course  😊

Easter day 4-not such a happy story for Erica

It's a bit embarassing to write this one.

It's been another long hard day.

Today I (Erica) managed to find only my first and last control.
I forgot all the good advice I have remembered over the years and didn't stay in touch with the map.  I got completely lost and never found myself until way too late.
I had a wonderful walk and strangely feel quite happy despite having been DNFd  (basically disqualified for not finding all of my controls) today.

Trevor completed his course and finished today which shows good consistency. This Easter he is doing longer courses. He has shown that he can manage them well.

Here are some pictures taken at the event today.

We headed out after the event and stopped not too far down the road by some old cattle stock yards to have some lunch and our first cup of tea for the day sometime after 2pm. We also changed out of our smelly orienteering gear and into our normal clothes, then drove out of town and headed towards SA.  250km or so on and we stopped at the hill rock reserve (just past Wagga Wagga) , which we had checked out on the way over.  We pulled up and set up camp , and later were joined by Bob Smith who is in his A van and also heading homewards. 

Old cattle yards lunch stop

Our camp for the night

Pre dinner eats and drinks while we waited for Bob

Bob has arrived with his fancy A van. 

I'm afraid I do not have a photo of today's map and the light has gone so it will have to wait.

Easter day 3- the orienteering adventure continues.

Tonight Trevor was breathalysed for the third night in a row!

We were coming home from the Orienteering Australia dinner. We were very glad that we went as we saw Robin Uppill awarded the David Hogg medal for services to event management. (Well deserved)

Today was another long hard day of orienteering, and tomorrow is from the same arena, so we expect more of the same.  So far our bodies have held out well, with blisters and a few scratches and gashes the worst that we have to show for it.
Others have not fared so well.

Today Simon Uppill was beaten by 2 seconds by Matt Crane in their ongoing tussle for top male orienteer in Australia. I can't tell you the overall tally-but Matt is in front, so we are barracking for Simon to run a scorcher tomorrow.

Other stand out performances that I know of were the George girls who came in 2nd and 3rd in their class, and Lachlan Hallett who won the sledge again. He will be hard to beat tomorrow.

Here is my map and some of the views from today

The sledge runners deciding who wears what boxer shorts tomorrow. 

This is one very supportive Dad, Ian, who has driven over so that Max can compete.  Today we went out on a course, and had just come back. He was had just opened a special Easter card from his daughter-hence the lovely smile.