Category Orienteering in Australia
What A Difference A Day Makes (Eppalock Part 2)
Well not so much for me. Today’s course was a similar distance in similar forest, with a similar result, to yesterday. It was definitely harder navigating. The features that my controls were on were a lot vaguer – shallow gullies, broad spurs, tiny low cliffs. All of them required careful compass work and complete contact […]
Into The Forest We Go (Eppalock Part 1)
It’s been 14 months since either of us have done any bush orienteering, and my last foray, the Victorian Long Distance Champs, ended in me abandoning the course after failing to find one of my controls midway through. Since then, we’ve either been away, or the maps have been too steep, or it’s been bucketing […]
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
We only had one race on Day 3, in the afternoon. Normally we would enjoy the sleep in and the leisurely morning, but today was HOT. By the time we arrived at the venue in Erina, it was about 36 degrees, and we were wilting before we even made it out of the car park. […]
Pointless
Lately I’ve been watching the British TV quiz show “Pointless”. I enjoy the mental challenge of thinking about the answers differently. This afternoon’s race featured some pointlessness, but it wasn’t a challenge I could say I relished. As we approached the afternoon’s venue, we could see that it was on a steeper slope, with a […]
Sprinting the Coast
The carnival that we’ve come for is the Oceania Championships for the elites, who are vying for selection to the World Champs. For us plebs, it’s a series of four races with a cumulated score. All four races count, so there is no dropping your worst result. Race 1 was in Tuggerah, at a small […]
A Good Ol’ Aussie Road Trip
Tonight we’re in Gundagai, halfway to the NSW Central Coast, where we are headed for “Sprint the Coast”, a three day orienteering competition. Captain Kumamon was going to be left at home, until I did some checking, and realized that despite his extensive travels overseas, he has never been on a proper Aussie Road Trip. […]
If It’s Monday It Must Be Brisbane
Our heads are spinning a bit from the constant relocations. We spent three nights at home, unpacking, washing, shopping, preparing everything for the Anzac weekend, repacking, and driving to Bendigo on Anzac Day. The car was once again full to the brim with gear. It finally poured down with much-needed rain as we drove up […]
Reality Check
Well of course harsh reality set in today. We were back in detailed mining terrain for the final event of Easter. Our Information “tent” was inside a hall – luxury. The sun shone and all was right with the world. Out on the course, I quickly realised that the mining features were low to the […]
A Tortoise’s Tale
Halfway through the carnival already – months and months of planning, and it goes by in a flash. Something remarkable happened today. We drove to the middle of Nowheresville, on increasingly smaller and more remote roads. Eventually we wound up next to a bush conservation reserve on the side of a small, boulder-strewn hill. Rocks […]
The First Half
Being out in the forest it’s a very different story. After a hot dry summer, it’s very dusty and brown everywhere. Our club is looking after the “Information Centre”, which means we hand out everyone’s race numbers and tourist information, answer lots of questions, look after lost property, deal with endless requests to change courses […]
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