Author Archives: dipidydoo
Doing a Bradbury at Bullengarook
My first bush event for 6 months … I expected to be a little rusty. But the map was not complex or technical, the weather was incredible, and I was set for a good day, hoping to be around my 2.8 km course in 60-70 minutes allowing for a couple of wobbles along the way. […]
Sprint Finish
I’m sure you are all in suspense for the outcome of the final race! Back at ANU, the car loaded for the drive home. Same arena, but this time we would be on the south end of the map. What a luxury to have such a complex area, large enough for 2 separate maps! The […]
Sprinting on Air
The third race was in the morning, and mercifully it was much cooler. We’d been told this was a bush sprint, in a mountain biking park, close to where the 2003 bushfires were. In fact the arena was at a moving memorial for those who lost homes, pets, and even lives. Apparently someone forgot to […]
Capital City Sprinting
On the road again … we’ve taken a short break to take part in Sprint Canberra, five races in four days in the nation’s capital. We made an unaccustomed early start, arriving early enough to settle in to our home for the next few days. We were greeted by our “host”, Miss Tiger Lily, who […]
Latitude S23 23 59 24 (aka Tropic of Capricorn)
The navigator in me loves a geographic landmark, so of course my final day in Rockhampton had to include a stop at the Tropic of Capricorn, marking the divide between the temperate and the tropic zones. Surprisingly, we needed a map to locate it. Once Rocky’s major/only tourist attraction, these days it sits rather unassumingly […]
Remembrance, and the Guard Bear
Aah, another sun drenched morning. After a relaxed start to the day, we headed to Yeppoon for a bit of shopping and a look around. Yeppoon is a quiet seaside resort town with splendid views from the top of the not inconsiderable hills (I assume the views are splendid, we didn’t actually climb any of […]
Short Holiday
Hello from the Capricorn Coast of Queensland, where the sky is blue, the temperature is in the mid 20s, there are no looming public transport strikes, and every day is a holiday (well at least for a few more days). I flew into Rockhampton yesterday, where Mum and Dad collected me. We’re at Kinka Beach, […]
The Carnival Is Over
Day 2 saw us back in almost the same spot, just a little less distance to drive in. An earlier start was a good way to avoid the worst of the dust. A cloudless sky promised another warm day, and I was glad I was starting before 10am. The terrain notes were the same as […]
Eat My Dust
Orienteering in SA usually involves long drives on dirt road. This was no exception – we could see the dust cloud from 20 km away! It looked like mist, till we got closer. Visibility was down to zero in places. White turned out to be a poor choice of colour today. After a long, dry, […]
On the Road Again
We’re back on the road – Pete, Ilze and I headed off to South Australia for the Easter 3 days, an annual tradition. SA is one of my favourite places to orienteer – not too steep, not too thick, technical enough to be interesting without being impossible. We forget what most of Australia is like, […]
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