Day 2 – Easter Day 1 (yes I could write a book about the stupidity of the structure of the Easter 3 day carnival that runs for 4 days…)

Morning dawned all too soon, and Ilze was very grumpy. The resident rooster had started crowing at about midnight, and continued at regular intervals all night. Plans for roast rooster were made as we headed off to the event.

Carwells Labyrinth, at Clandulla, had been the venue for the World Masters final back in 2009. I had fond memories of the arena, which was set on the side of a gentle hill and provided wonderful spectating; memories of the terrain were less favourable. I remembered slogging around in lots of rock, making lots of mistakes. Ian ran off the map altogether!

So it was a tentative approach to my first control, which was nice and close. In fact too close – I overshot it and found myself in the line of rocks where my second control was. Oops – 10 minutes wasted – not a great start to 3 days of competition. Oh well, at least I knew where no 2 was. I tried to focus firmly as I headed for no 3, making sure the compass and the terrain all matched the map, and taking it carefully. I hit it bang on – hooray! Off to no 4, feeling a little more confident, until I made the final approach. I started to second guess myself, and stopped to have a very careful look around and reassure myself I was in the right place. If I’d just kept going a few more metres, I would have seen the feature almost straight away. Still, better safe than sorry.

The next few were short legs in rock, and I focused on knowing which way to approach – from above or below – to minimise last minute scrambling up or down. That seemed to work well. No 8 was my longest leg – across a broad spur to drop into a rocky gully. No problem – until I drifted right coming off the spur, and missed the rocky part of the gully. Confused, I kept going onto the next spur. Eventually I realised my error and turned tail, finding the control behind me, but another 10 minutes were wasted.

The last section brought us out of the rocks and into the swampy watercourses and meadows near the finish. No navigational problems here, but numerous river crossings and a seriously steep descent slowed me down. I finished last – but at least I finished, and I took some positives from my navigating in the rock. And I knew what to work on for the next two days. The best news was that my back wasn’t sore afterwards, and my fitness seemed to be improving each day.

Discussions with chicken owners provided the answer to our nocturnal noise problem – put the rooster in a cardboard box overnight and let him out in the morning. We appointed Vic as Chicken Whisperer, and christened the rooster Rowdy Flat, before imprisoning him. However we no longer felt the need to eat him, particularly as the hens were providing plenty of fresh eggs. Instead we dined on Pete’s Aussie steak and potatoes with salad.

Day 3 – Easter Day 2

It was a very early start today, but Rowdy had at least stayed quiet. We returned to the same assembly area, but this time we were on the flatter and less rocky Prossers Reef. At WMOC, I’d actually had more trouble on this map, as the contours and rock detail were less clear, and the eastern half was very vague with lots of confusing tracks. However, I was determined to improve on the previous day’s time.

It fell apart again on the first control, and I wanted to cry. I just misread a gully for a spur, and spent ages fruitlessly hunting in the wrong place. The control itself was hidden in a thicket, which didn’t help. Eventually I figured it out, but it didn’t put me in a good frame of mind. Luckily the next couple of controls proved easier to locate, though the terrain was pretty scrappy and there was a lot of vegetation. Once I got onto the eastern section, things opened out and it was standard spur-gully stuff, with the odd termite mound thrown in. I chose to ignore those, and just kept using the contours, and it worked. I finished 10 minutes faster than yesterday, still no back problems, still feeling quite fit, and just needing to eliminate these early problems. And I was no longer last – yay!

The highlight of the day was Lanita’s run. We waited and waited for her to come through the radio control and when she did, she was in the lead by a massive 6 minutes! Then we watched her absolutely fly down the hill, into the creek crossing, and up the finish chute.   She had wings on her heels, and she’d blown the others away to take a 4 minute overall lead. Asha made a big error and dropped down to 6^th, certainly not out of contention but needing a really strong final run.

We spent the afternoon strolling round Rylstone completing the photo puzzle, solving the cryptic crossword (or most of it), and composing our limerick, which went:

“There once was a club known as DROC, whose members were experts in rock. The star was Lanita, cos no-one could beat her, and now she’s off to JWOC”.

For dinner, Simon and Peter donned metaphorical sombreros, and cooked up a Mexican taco feast. Rowdy went back into his box, and all was well.