Stop Press - link added to Greg's
explanations of the cryptic controls from the Ngaio Roadrunner.
Webmaster's delay sorry, Greg provided them promptly.
And another link which will be useful next time you are asked to handle a leaf
of Onga Onga! A student from Rangi Ruru in Christchurch has braved pain in the
interest of science to discover
what works best to allay the sting. The folk remedy
of dock leaves is not the answer:-))
Participant Michael Wood writes...
I've been to the gold-mine several times since fellow-orienteer Bruce Dryden told me about it - he grew up in Whites Line East and his dad was an honorary ranger and bush fire-fighter. Find out more about the Haywards Scenic Reserve here.
Anyway, when you go in the daytime you never have a torch, do you? So this was a great opportunity. It goes a long way in, in fact Greg Thurlow and I didn't see the tape, jumped across the hole, and got a whole way FURTHER in! For info other relics of Wellington's brief "gold rush" can be found in the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary (fenced off after a coupla metres unfortunately) and on Terawhiti Station (boiler for stamping battery on valley floor, tunnels up the hillside somewhere).
More comment from the planners in due course...
Debbie writes...
I hope you all enjoyed last nights Rogaine as much as we did putting it together. Hopefully there were some new tracks you discovered and we hope you enjoyed the bush area that makes up the south end of Belmont Regional Park
Congratulations to Pirates Gingerbeard and Captain Jack Sparrow (Alias Greg and Ross) who managed to outscore an outstanding solo effort by Bill Edwards with the help of the bonus ‘treasure’ items. (Be it that their feather was slightly suspect – It was the ‘fur’ parrot that was perched on Gregs shoulder)
For some of you that said they couldn’t find certain controls, they were definitely all out there. #42 half way up the bridle track to the trig was possibly the hardest as I had placed it going down the hill, making it very difficult for those going up the hill. #56 which was at the base of the waterfall, was up from the bridge approx 5M and attached to rocks at knee level facing the waterfall and control #62 10M north of the large rimu tree was on a punga at eye level along the possum line. Bill, the control at the stream junction below Baked Beans Bend was on a tree at eye level right at the junction, definitely not in the stream. Apart from those few, I hope you didn’t have too many difficulties out there.
The treasure hunt seemed to add a whole new dimension to the rogaine, and certainly showed the teams who couldn’t multi-task. (ie run, read a map and ‘look’ all at the same time) For those of you who didn’t find the yellow gold coins out on the course, there were 2 down at the dam, a few on Stratton Street and Cottle Park Drive and quite a few scattered around the streets of Maungaraki. There was even 1 on one of the posts about 20M away from the start/finish area. The dollar value was $22.00.
Well done to the 3 teams (Mark and Mary, Jim and Brenda, Anne and Eleanor) who found all the 10 items and scored the extra 50 point bonus, Jim and Brenda brought us enough watercress to make a meal and Mark and Marys rimu sprig was somewhat suspect, looking more like a cedar than rimu. By the way the leaf of an ongaonga is ‘stinging nettle’ which I’m sure you all would have encountered out on the course, however some of you gave us quite a strange collection of leaves, definitely NOT stinging nettle. Look forward to seeing you all at the next Rogaine – wonder what the next theme will be?
Cheers, Debbie and Julie
Greg writes...
What a stunning night to be out cruising round the hills…man that suit was warm….…
Thanks to all those that turned up. On the whole most of the clues were answered correctly.
So I was not too harsh with the marking. Here are
explanations of the controls. (Might just keep those not visited for the next one:-))
Congrats to Mick, Mary, Mark and Chris for topping the 1000. I had hammered round the course on my bike on Sat and got 1250 so any score close to 1000 was a top effort. Although I think you all did extremely well though trying to figure out my warped view of the world….
Regards, Greg
P.S. Now I know why students set up TWALK (the cryptic clue event in Canterbury). Having bucket loads of time is a prerequisite to set one of these up….. Maybe it’s catching on. Did anyone spot the Giant purple moon with two pieces….classic….