New Zealand April 16th Easter Sunday (rest day)

We opted to miss the relay event in favor of resting tired and sore joints and relaxing.
We started with eggs and bacon for breakfast before packing up and heading off. This is where we were enjoying the top level for the last few days.

We started off the trip with a drive down the street to the river.  Hopping out at the end of the dead end we found a grassy park and wandered across and down to see the views across the mangroves.

There is no rambling riverside path, so we hopped back into the car and headed out of Auckland in search of places to see. We passed the huge Wakamete cemetery on the way-a whole suburb space taken up by green areas and graves!

We are regularly seeing mechanical workshops offering WOF.  Eventually we saw a sign telling us this means warrant of fitness. It must be their roadworthy testing. 

Trip advisor had shown a small walk to a waterfall which was pretty  much on our way.  It is apparently not a big drawcard in the area, and after driving right past the entrance and briefly considering purchasing a local property

we finally decided to stop and investigate a grassy patch with a small pull off area.  Sure enough, a narrow track led off into the trees and soon became a slippery track.  Glad it wasn't any wetter. After a short stroll  we came to some lovely falls cascading into what looked to be quite a deep pool.

The track meandered past this sad little cemetery on its way.

In the towns we are seeing banners with poppies on them advertising the 100 years of Anzac Day and reminding us of our shared heritage. 

Next stop was a beach with black sand which took us quite a while to find. Eventually we found it. Apparently the swimming is risky and the local surf club patrol a space about 50m wide between the flags. It was very popular on Easter Sunday. You can see the shiny bits in the black sand in this first photo. 

You can see the cars on the beach.  Apparently it gets really busy here at times.  Today there were a few cars and bikes driving up and down at pace among the walkers and swimmers. 

As well as the pampas grass this plant that looks like a kangaroo paw on steroids abounds across this area. 

Arriving at our evening accommodation we took a stroll around the ground. It used to be a priory and we are staying in the "brothers house" where once they would have studied and decided on their calling.  We visited "the grotto" down by the creek , admired their wood stock and the local grounds. It now has a 100 seat theatre, gymnasium and full conference facilities which are well used for weddings apparently.

Easter lilies out in bloom. 

This was a working farm and still has the cows. 

There is also a resident boar here (looks like a black hairy barrel on legs with tusks). He is called "Piggy". I tried to take a photo of him  rooting around in the dark but it didn't work out.  

We cooked dinner in the communal kitchen here and got talking to a Swedish couple who recently stayed with Kay H in Adelaide!! It is a small world 😊

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 -day 1 competition Auckland Sprints

The Sprints today were held on the site of an old Mental Asylum (now UNITEC).

Complex building arrangements, gardens and changes from close navigation to open gave us plenty to think about. Thanks for the training Stefano. We felt right at home with the sprint map.

Trevor's ankle held up enough for him to run on  it.

The spectator spot was fantastic with views from a grassy hill across to the final control and the finish chute down into the gully and alone in front of gardens.

Final control

The grass is very soggy and the grassy hill soon became a muddy hill, with only those who were game braving the results shelters, where it had become VERY squelchy.

The air filled finish sign collapsed briefly when a generator stopped, but was soon up again.

We haven't collected our maps as the rain started to fall really heavily and we decided to start for home.  Before we left I was sitting at 22nd and Trev at about 25th with some still to come in. This puts us mid field.  As yet we have been unable to find any online results.

My favourite finisher

I would like to see inside this camper trailer

                                                Novel storage for used cups

Aylwin anticipating an excellent run

Late results have arrived.  Trevor came 39th in a field of 72 runners and I was 22nd in a field of 48!! We are very proud of our fellow state runners, some of whom put in an outstanding performance.  Go SA.  

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.

A good summer map and leg

Summer orienteering  has started up again on Friday nights (hooray!) in the parks and streets of Adelaide.
Last night we started in the south east corner of the city.
For those who are not familiar, with Adelaide, South Australia (my home city) this needs a bit of a description.

The city of Adelaide was a planned city, laid out in 1837 by Colonel William Light.
The city mile is surrounded by park lands,  and adjoins North Adelaide also has park lands surrounding it.  The Torrens river runs through between the city centre and North Adelaide (beside the famous Adelaide Oval of cricket fame).

Just for interest here is an old 1840 map of the city so you can get the idea. On this map the purchasers of  the acre blocks are written.

The parklands are preserved for recreational purposes and mostly open to the public. There are a few sporting club rooms, and the old Victoria racecourse, the swimming centre etc, but mosly it is just open land with scattered trees, walking and bike tracks.

Where we were orienteering last night was the bottom right hand (south eastern corner of the city.  This area has a mix of buildings ranging from original old terrace cottages on narrow laneways, large old houses with their grounds around them, and newer apartments (also with narrow driveways and lanes) , all still just a short stroll from the parklands.

We started from the parklands and headed immediately into the roads and laneways of the residential area. Of the four varies courses on offer I chose to take on the medium length (about 4.5km). My knee has been a bit of a problem, and I'm trying to give it a chance to recover by not pushing it too hard, so I figured this distance would be manageable, even if I needed to walk most of it.

Close to the start was what I considered the best leg on my course. At control 4 we were faced with an excellent route choice. this sort of puzzle is what keeps me so keen on orienteering.  Not only does it give my body some much needed exercise, but it challenges my mind to quickly decide the best route choice.

The idea is to get from 4 to 5 in the quickest time  (thus finding the shortest route is the quest).
The trick here was that there was a dark line on the route between the two.  This indicates an impassable barrier. Those who did not notice this headed up the side of the narrow (grey) buildings and found themselves at a dead end. They wasted some valuable seconds doing this, then had to turn around and backtrack.

All were faced with an excellent challenge in working out how best to get to the next control. There was no choice but to head back out to the street, but once on the street there were two choices.

You could turn left (heading west) , to the second opening on your left, go down the laneways between the buildings, past the garage (lighter gray) , slip between the narrow opening between 2 buildings and turn left again to run down to the control.

Alternatively you could turn right, go all the way down to the street bordering the parklands, run along to the right, either skip through between the building doing a left turn on the way , or staying straight until the next road, go up the road a little way, and then head in the narrow lane way to the garage area and find the control.

When you are trying to make a decision quickly while running it is not always easy.  It is hard to calculate which route is longer, and with the map jigging up and down in front of you as you run, it can be tricky to see where you can get through and where you can not.

The other challenge that I particularly enjoyed last night was when we emerged from the buildings into the parklands and had to find a control in there. I was not using my compass , so I had to really concentrate on the leg between 8 and 9 as I emerged from the buildings.

I've been caught before in this circumstance, and I was very aware of the fact that I find it difficult to change my thinking from the tight streets and buildings to the open land, where you really have to think hard about your direction and distance. The long grass hid the control itself, although the vegetation was of some help (the green patches show the thicker vegetation) . I was happy with the way I managed the change of thinking last night and really enjoyed that challenge as well.

Thanks Stefano for an excellent course, and to all the helpers who made it happen.