Our last trip into Auckland! It was a lovely sunny day.  Pete and I wrestled the parking meter system into submission and we headed across the Domain, home to the Auckland Museum.  Last time Ian and I were here was as part of the Coast to Coast Walk – you can hike across New Zealand within Auckland, it’s only about 15 kms in length thanks to all the inlets and harbours.  We wandered at will, eventually popping out at the event arena.

And what an arena!  We were seriously envious – this surpassed any orienteering event setup I’ve come across.  We were packed tightly into a courtyard surrounded by modern university lecture theatres.  The finish chute was down below. After crossing the line, you headed underground to download, then upstairs but still inside to the upper level of the building, for the results display.

Catering included a bar selling coffee and alcohol, as well as a Mexican food stall and a BBQ (which was delicious).  This was very civilised orienteering indeed, not a portaloo to be seen.

The pre-start was on an overhead pedestrian walkway across a busy road, which must have bemused the drivers down below! It was great fun to launch yourself across the bridge and into the adjacent park.  I had four very short legs in there, zig zagging around large leafy trees, fountains and sculptures.  Then it was into the first section of campus.  I ran very cleanly through here, picking good route choices and gaining ground on the runner in front of me.  Ten controls in, and doing well.

I ran through the underpass, looking at the map and thinking “turn hard left as soon as you exit”.  Problem was, the hard left turn I needed involved going up a set of steps which I hadn’t noticed.  I missed the turn, taking the next left, and running into an area that did not match the map. Damn!  Corrected myself, cursing the error.  No 12 was fine, and I only had four to go. So far it had been easy, and I seriously underestimated the next leg.  I ran myself into an area that I couldn’t recognise, up and down stairs, along a narrow path, back in circles, finally exiting out of the buildings into the top section of the finish chute. From there I relocated, back up the stairs, but still could not see my control. It was tucked in hard against a wall with shrubbery over it.  The leg took 6 minutes, which was about 5 minutes longer than it should have.

I managed to make yet another error between there and the finish, so the last third of the course was quite a disaster after a promising start.  My hopes of a high place in the B final evaporated, but at least I wasn’t last and didn’t mispunch. I simply got carried away when I should have slowed right down and played it safe.  Even with an error free run, I would have been around 15th-20th. Despite the disappointment, it was a fabulous day and a great one for Australia, winning 12 of the 23 gold medals.

We visited the beautiful Wintergarden on the way back to the car.

Afterwards we were lucky enough to see a Maori group performing a haka for a camera crew, up on the grassy ridge near the museum, with the Sky Tower spire in the background.  A lovely way to complete our time in Auckland.

From here on in, we are back in Woodhill Forest, among the pine trees and sand dunes.  It’s a rest day tomorrow, then the Long Distance competition begins.  For me, that’s a shift into survival mode – 3 more races, with the aim being no mispunches and an intact record.