Just Roaming Around: City Safari 2009

An urban rogaine where competitors are able to use public transport. Seemed like a good way to get teenagers out of the house, so I signed us up for the shorter 3 hour option. Scored 235 points on the main event, plus 60 points from the prologue, less 30 points for being late on the prologue, giving a total of 265 points. We placed 14^th of about 46 family teams, although some would have had much younger children than our team’s youngest of 11.

Above: portion of the main map showing where we
collected most of our points.
Right: Prologue map.

The event started with a short 10 minute prologue. I figured out a route that should have got us back just within 10 minutes. I would have been right too, except for taking the long way to get to one control... so we ended up being a bit over one minute late back to the finish and losing 20 points from our score.

A few minutes to recover and then it was the main event. We made our way down to the railway station via an easy 5 point control. A couple of minutes wait before the train was due to leave, and then a pleasant ride up the Ngaio Gorge to Khandallah.

On the train to Khandallah

Reviewing where we will go.	View out the window. The gorge drops very steeply into the bush.

From Khandallah station it was a short walk through the streets to #21. #42 looked promising, but there would be a fair amount of climb and I wasn’t sure that the boys would be too thrilled with that. So we left that one alone and retraced our steps to Khandallah station, then a shortcut through a walkway and #22. Then along to #12 and a longish walk and partway down a hill to #31. Back up the hill to Cashmere Avenue School. The map suggests that it would be possible to take a shortcut through the school to get to #13, but it looked like we would have to descend into the school grounds then climb a steep walkway on the other side. We decided that it would be easier to just go around the streets and avoid the extra climb.

From #13 it was on to #23. From there our plan called for #14 and then #52, but I was getting a little nervous about time and elected to take the direct route to #52. A climb up a steep sealed vehicle track to #52, then down through a nice bush track to #16, then up a hill to #32.

Time was counting down now and it was imperative to catch the train on time. If we caught the train we would finish in time; if not we would be at least 20 minutes late and lose 200 points (or be DQed). We seemed to have enough time so jogged a bit along the road to pick up #15, then a push up to Awarua Street station. Time to recover and have something to eat and drink!

Another pleasant journey back down on the train and plan what to do with the 24 minutes we would have when we got into Wellington. #2E (worth 20 points) at the NZ Rugby Union HQ looked promising, and there was a shortcut along the platform and over the Stadium concourse. We made it down the end of the platform (as did many others on the train) only to find that the gates to the concourse were locked. Back down the platform – minutes wasted – and along the footpath. Wait for the crossing, then across the road and pick up the control.

There was nothing else for us to pick up on the way back, so it was just a matter of a quick walk back. We passed lots of other teams, but already having late penalties from the prologue wanted to be sure that we’d be back before the finish time. Finished in 2h55m, comfortably inside the 3 hours.

More photos available on Flickr.Official event website: www.citysafari.org.nz