To the Race!!
After competing in the City Chase this year Paul, one of the guys we met during the race, sent me a message a couple of months ago to ask if I was going to compete in The Great Amazing Race in Melbourne. Was I? Hell yeah!! (As it turned out he got 'man flu' and couldn't. Piker.) So I rang kirstenfleur to see if she'd be interested, and we entered ourselves as team "Truffe". Which is of course French for "truffle" and a vague reference to my inability to describe my job in French. Or any other non-English language come to that.
The morning started off on a bad foot for me when the train I was planning to catch was cancelled due to vandalism. Then, having finally caught a train, I realised that just because the weekday trains run direct to Flinders St doesn't mean that the weekend trains don't run via the CityLoop, adding approximately 15 minutes to the journey. So I jumped off at Jolimont and attempted to catch a tram to Flinders St Station, where kirstenfleur was waiting. Naturally there were no trams to be seen, so I ended up getting a taxi instead, finally finding kirstenfleur approximately half an hour after our pre-arranged meeting time. Then we had to catch a tram to our starting point, the Belgian Beer Cafe on St Kilda Rd. Easier said than done, as trackworks on the Swanston St line meant that buses were running through the city and the closest point we could catch a tram was at the National Gallery.
Still, we finally made it to the Cafe, got our bibs and map, found a capucchino and waited for the race to begin. First of course, there were photos. We somehow ended up right in front, which was unfortunate as I'd been trying to be at the back. Oops. The usual run through of the rules and then it was "OK team captains - your clues are being held by the volunteers on the other side of the building!!" While kirstenfleur held the bags I ran around to the back of the building and joined the crowd trying to get a clue sheet. The person I was closest to ran out of clue sheets. OK, I ran over to another person. Who ran out of clue sheets. A third person. Ran out of clue sheets. The sole remaining person was quickly surrounded, and equally as quickly ran out of clue sheets, leaving about 20 of us going "Um, OK, now what?" We followed her as a group back to the organiser's tent where there was a frantic search for more clue sheets. About 5 minutes after the start they'd rounded up enough copies and I finally had one. Seriously guys? Really bad organisation there. Sydney's Urban Max has around 600 teams and hasn't managed that one. Anyway. I headed back to kirstenfleur and we started working out a route, ringing Marcus as googlemonkey to confirm some of the answers.
15 or so minutes later we had a rough idea of where we were going and started off for our first Challenge Stage, number 1:
Do you trust your partner? Find out at Albert Park Lake where both team members will have to participate in a kayak challenge.
OK, that was less a 'clue' and more an 'instruction' really. We started walking to the Lakeside car park which the kayaking was near. This is the point where I should mention that this particular event divides its stages into Challenge stages, which are activity based, Pursuit stages, which are location finding only, Collect stages, which involve getting stuff, and the Amazing Race Stage, which is a multi-part stage involving a detour and a semi-roadblock. You are supposed to complete all bar one Collect stage, for a total of 15 stages. This race also goes for half an hour less than both the Urban Max and the City Chase events, making it a bit more challenging... especially when Yarra trams decides to do major trackworks that weekend!! Anyway, back to the kayaking. As we were coming around the corner we realised there was a long queue, so we headed for another nearby Pursuit stage, number 4:
Opened on the 24th July 1997, this location is renowned for its facilities to host major international events such as the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2007 FINA World Championships
This was the Melbourne Aquatic Centre (confirmed by Marcus), and after clipping the right part of my bib (which acted as the control card) we headed back to the kayaking queue, which hadn't really diminished much.
The kayaking was a 2 person kayak and involved going out to a buoy marked with a flag and coming back in again. kirstenfleur had fortunately been kayaking at a work retreat, so we had someone with recent experience! We watched as one particularly hapless team started off in the wrong direction, eventually managed to get going in the right direction, missed the buoy completely but did manage to block another three teams who were coming back from it, eventually managed to turn back to face the direction they'd come from and then completed the trifecta by missing the right pier (but making it to the next one along) and then being unable to move, requiring one of the organisers to go over and tow the kayak back to the right place. I think pretty much all the waiting teams were giggling by that point.
We and the team in front were fitted out with lifejackets and told about where we were supposed to go and what not to do (stand up in the kayak or fall in the water, basically). "So it's out to that buoy with the green flag and back. OK?"
"I thought that was a blue flag" said kirstenfleur.
"No, it's green."
"Are you sure? I think it's blue."
"No, it's definitely green..."
At this point the team in front who were giggling a lot turned around and went "no, the green one's over there" and pointed off to where the particularly hapless team had gone initially.
"Yeah that's right, we do a lap of the lake first!"
We hopped into the kayak and headed out to the buoy ("oh yeah, it is green!") and back.
Got the card clipped and jumped on the tram to the start of the Amazing Race Stage:
Make your way to the front of Boost Juice on Fitzroy Street, St Kilda to receive your first RACE INFO card to begin your Amazing Race Stage around ST Kilda
At the Boost Juice we got our first RACE INFO card:
"Make your way to the right side of St Kilda Pier behind the Melbourne Yacht Club"
We followed the instruction, and found ourselves with a DETOUR - a choice between stand up paddleboarding (WET) or standing on long skateboards and propelling ourselves along with large sticks (DRY). There was a long queue for DRY. Naturally we chose WET. Equally as naturally we decided that kneeling was a lot more stable to paddleboard than standing up. This might have been because the only person we saw fall in - one of the volunteers - was standing. So we paddled out to one (non-flagged) buoy, across to another buoy and back in. The most tricky part was getting the boards back up on the sand actually. And that water was cold!
Another RACE INFO card, this one directing us to the front of Luna Park, where we would find our next clue. We headed in that direction, stopping only to wash our feet and put our shoes back on, and found directions to "Talbot Reserve". Granted I didn't write the instructions down or anything but I'm pretty sure they said "on the corner of Acland and Barkly Sts". Which would be close, but not actually correct - it's on the corner of Carlisle and Barkly Sts. Fortunately we checked on a map (ours was too big and the parks don't stand out well in black and white) and found it quickly. Listening to people after the race though, it was confusing - some people spent quite a bit of time wandering around St Kilda Botanical Gardens trying to find a clue. Literally.
At the reserve there was a beautifully tiled wall, which had been put together by local artists to represent St Kilda. Our next semi-Roadblock involved starting with one tile in the top left of the mosaic and then following a series of 23 instructions along the lines of "Go down 2 tiles" "Go right 5 tiles" until we found our final tile, which we then repeated to the volunteer manning the station. kirstenfleur was counting the tiles, I was reading out the instructions. We were about two thirds of the way through, when "go right 9 tiles" came up. "Are there more tiles around the corner?" We looked. "OK, let's start again."
This time I kept an eye on kirstenfleur while she counted... and sure enough we got to "go left 3 tiles" and she started heading right. Both of us are left/right blind, it figures! This time we ended up on a tile ("K") which turned out to be correct. Back to BoostJuice to get our card stamped and then we had completed the stage! We dived across the road to catch another tram back to the city and started planning our route, with particular attention to opening and closing times.
The easiest route (given that we were on a #16) was to Pursuit Stage 1:
The team must find "Clem's Island" under a pedestrian footbridge over a river.
I'd never heard of "Clem's Island" - which is not surprising really, because it's basically a pylon in the middle of the footbridge from Southbank to Flinders St Station. We found it quickly and headed for Challenge Stage 5:
Can you hit a bulls eye? Try your luck at the Bull and Bear Tavern downstairs.
Again Marcus had proved invaluable, providing us with an address on Flinders Lane near Elizabeth St. The challenge here was to get 25 points with three throws each at darts. We managed it, which was fortunate - more so as I'd managed a fairly low score to start with!
We jogged from Flinders Lane to our next Challenge Stage, number 6:
Make your way to Queensbridge Square to experience Melbourne's new Bike Share. Ideal for the short trip that 1 team member is about to make.
Over Queen's Bridge and with some help from a friendly passer-by who told us where the bikes actually were. kirstenfleur flopped to the ground when we got there, so I did the bike ride, which involved riding along Southbank back to the pedestrian bridge, walking the bikes over it (I missed the sign but the other two people with me didn't!), then riding back along the other side of the Yarra to Queensbridge Square again.
Off to the next Challenge Stage, number 3:
Scared of heights? It's time to confront your fears. Sharing its name with one of the largest snakes in the world, make your way to this store in South Wharf where one team member will test out their indoor rock climbing skills
This was of course South Wharf Anaconda's rock climbing wall, where we didn't go on this year's City Chase. We started jogging along Southbank. Nearing Clarendon St we were passed by a young man who did the fake "sprint past and raise your arms in victory" move, watched by his (adoring?) fans. Or friends. Whatever.
"Yes, mate you're a winner."
It's not often they give you an opening like that!
We kept jogging on, then had the sudden realisation that we might be able to complete one of the Collect Stages, number 3:
Find and collect a movie ticket stub from Saturday 28/8/10. Give this to the official at the end of the race to complete the clue.
So into Crown Cinemas we went. After checking a couple of bins (we're classy!) the guy behind the candy counter managed to attract our attention and gave us a used ticket. Obviously we weren't the first people to have this idea! We thanked him and headed off again to Anaconda.
At Anaconda kirstenfleur volunteered to climb the wall so I decided to grab some drinks. When I got back again she was half way up the wall already! I sculled my iced tea and cheered her up to the almost (literally, one left!) top when she slipped and abseiled down. They gave us the checkpoint! Which was good because kirstenfleur wasn't going back up again I think, having spent about the top third going "I really don't like heights..."
By this time we were getting pressed for time. Our next planned Challenge Stage, number 2, had a closing time of 2pm, and it was 1.30pm already. So off we jogged again, over the bridge to the tram stop. And there was a tram! Which according to the tram stop information would take us right to our next destination:
Relive your childhood memories by taking part in this fun challenge at Wonderland Fun Park, Harbour Town, Docklands.
For some reason I was convinced that this was the Iceskating Centre. Either way it was in Harbour Town, where our tram was going. Right up to when the driver announced that the tram was terminating about halfway. By this stage we only had 15 minutes to get to the location, and we still weren't sure where it was exactly. Off we ran again, round the front of Victoria Harbour, into Harbour Town, into a couple of dead ends... and then we found Wonderland Fun Park, which turned out to be a sort of carnival sideshow thing, with a minute to spare. It was in front of the Iceskating Centre though, so I wasn't completely off.
This stage involved two parts - the first was to go down the Giant Slide, which we completed quickly. The second was to ride the spider-like spinning ride. So we queued up... and ended up being second at the gate when they closed it again. *sigh*. Finally we got onto the ride, which involved much centrifugal force and quite a bit of sliding. By the time we got off the ride it was about 2.25pm. We got our card clipped and worked out our options. We still needed two Pursuits, one Challenge and a Collect Stage.
The sole remaining Challenge stage was stage 4:
Established in 1862, this is the oldest park in Melbourne, Victoria. Make your way to the North end of this park to compete in an activity made memorable by the comedy film 'Cracker Jack'.
Marcus had originally given us this as being located in Windsor - which is where "Cracker Jack" was filmed. Mid-way to Albert Park though he rang back and confirmed it as being in Flagstaff Gardens, where the Melbourne Bowls Club is located. Unfortunately it closed at 2.30pm.
We thought about it, decided there was no way we could get there in time and decided to focus on the remaining stages.
The obvious next stage was Pursuit Stage 3:
Make your way to Harbour Town, Docklands and find the outlet which claims to have "Elegant Fashion at Shed Prices"
We actually had no idea where this was, but we were in Harbour Town already, which was a start. So we started wandering around looking for it. En route we found a newsagent, which was not the right place, but it did allow us to complete Collect Stage 2:
Find and collect a postcard with a picture of a Melbourne tram on it
Found, bought, started wandering around looking for the Elegant Fashion shop again. A nice security guard saw us, and without us even asking told us it was on the first floor, right at the end. We clipped the card, then headed down to catch a city circle tram.
I was expecting the tram to turn up Latrobe St. It didn't, continuing back down to Flinders St. The race finished at 3.30pm, with a 30 minute penalty for each 15 minutes past the finish time. We were already going to be down 45 minutes for the missed Challenge Stage. Did we have time to make it to the last pursuit stage, number 2:
Sharing its name with the 16th President of the United States of America this Square contains a memorial to remember the australians who died in the 2002 bombings
Marcus confirmed this as Lincoln Square, which is on Swanston St in Carlton. Which is a long way from Flinders St, more so when the trams are running as buses to Latrobe St, then as trams again. I looked at my watch - 2.45pm. My guesstimate was that it would take us at least 20 minutes to get up to the square, then we'd need to find the clue, then get back again (another 20 mins once we caught a tram), and then get back out to the Belgian Beer Cafe (probably at least 30 but could also be closer to 40 mins).
We were also really tired, probably from the jogging.
"I think we're probably better off just going to the finish - even with the penalty we're going to end up ahead than if we try and get there and back. I think."
So we jumped off the severely overcrowded tram and took the tram to Domain and then a second tram back up to the Belgian Beer Cafe, coming in at 3.10pm.
Got our free sausage and watched the other teams come in.
The only remaining Collect stage we didn't do was number 1:
Rutledge Lane in the Melbourne CBD is renowned for its street art and graffiti. Find this laneway and look up high to count the number of white elephants painted on the wall.
Marcus had told us that this was a laneway-ette off the vastly more well known Hoiser Lane. Which is good, because the name was vaguely familiar but it certainly wasn't on any of our maps, and Melbourne is over-endowed with laneways.
All in all it was a fun day. The winners came in at about 1.16pm, which indicates just how tricky trying to get everything done in the time frame was, even for people who I'd guess ran all of it. The things I'd change were the clue sheet debacle at the start (I mean seriously) and probably add on a half hour to the time. Oh and not do it when Yarra Trams are busy screwing up the system!
Map route here.
The morning started off on a bad foot for me when the train I was planning to catch was cancelled due to vandalism. Then, having finally caught a train, I realised that just because the weekday trains run direct to Flinders St doesn't mean that the weekend trains don't run via the CityLoop, adding approximately 15 minutes to the journey. So I jumped off at Jolimont and attempted to catch a tram to Flinders St Station, where kirstenfleur was waiting. Naturally there were no trams to be seen, so I ended up getting a taxi instead, finally finding kirstenfleur approximately half an hour after our pre-arranged meeting time. Then we had to catch a tram to our starting point, the Belgian Beer Cafe on St Kilda Rd. Easier said than done, as trackworks on the Swanston St line meant that buses were running through the city and the closest point we could catch a tram was at the National Gallery.
Still, we finally made it to the Cafe, got our bibs and map, found a capucchino and waited for the race to begin. First of course, there were photos. We somehow ended up right in front, which was unfortunate as I'd been trying to be at the back. Oops. The usual run through of the rules and then it was "OK team captains - your clues are being held by the volunteers on the other side of the building!!" While kirstenfleur held the bags I ran around to the back of the building and joined the crowd trying to get a clue sheet. The person I was closest to ran out of clue sheets. OK, I ran over to another person. Who ran out of clue sheets. A third person. Ran out of clue sheets. The sole remaining person was quickly surrounded, and equally as quickly ran out of clue sheets, leaving about 20 of us going "Um, OK, now what?" We followed her as a group back to the organiser's tent where there was a frantic search for more clue sheets. About 5 minutes after the start they'd rounded up enough copies and I finally had one. Seriously guys? Really bad organisation there. Sydney's Urban Max has around 600 teams and hasn't managed that one. Anyway. I headed back to kirstenfleur and we started working out a route, ringing Marcus as googlemonkey to confirm some of the answers.
15 or so minutes later we had a rough idea of where we were going and started off for our first Challenge Stage, number 1:
Do you trust your partner? Find out at Albert Park Lake where both team members will have to participate in a kayak challenge.
OK, that was less a 'clue' and more an 'instruction' really. We started walking to the Lakeside car park which the kayaking was near. This is the point where I should mention that this particular event divides its stages into Challenge stages, which are activity based, Pursuit stages, which are location finding only, Collect stages, which involve getting stuff, and the Amazing Race Stage, which is a multi-part stage involving a detour and a semi-roadblock. You are supposed to complete all bar one Collect stage, for a total of 15 stages. This race also goes for half an hour less than both the Urban Max and the City Chase events, making it a bit more challenging... especially when Yarra trams decides to do major trackworks that weekend!! Anyway, back to the kayaking. As we were coming around the corner we realised there was a long queue, so we headed for another nearby Pursuit stage, number 4:
Opened on the 24th July 1997, this location is renowned for its facilities to host major international events such as the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2007 FINA World Championships
This was the Melbourne Aquatic Centre (confirmed by Marcus), and after clipping the right part of my bib (which acted as the control card) we headed back to the kayaking queue, which hadn't really diminished much.
The kayaking was a 2 person kayak and involved going out to a buoy marked with a flag and coming back in again. kirstenfleur had fortunately been kayaking at a work retreat, so we had someone with recent experience! We watched as one particularly hapless team started off in the wrong direction, eventually managed to get going in the right direction, missed the buoy completely but did manage to block another three teams who were coming back from it, eventually managed to turn back to face the direction they'd come from and then completed the trifecta by missing the right pier (but making it to the next one along) and then being unable to move, requiring one of the organisers to go over and tow the kayak back to the right place. I think pretty much all the waiting teams were giggling by that point.
We and the team in front were fitted out with lifejackets and told about where we were supposed to go and what not to do (stand up in the kayak or fall in the water, basically). "So it's out to that buoy with the green flag and back. OK?"
"I thought that was a blue flag" said kirstenfleur.
"No, it's green."
"Are you sure? I think it's blue."
"No, it's definitely green..."
At this point the team in front who were giggling a lot turned around and went "no, the green one's over there" and pointed off to where the particularly hapless team had gone initially.
"Yeah that's right, we do a lap of the lake first!"
We hopped into the kayak and headed out to the buoy ("oh yeah, it is green!") and back.
Got the card clipped and jumped on the tram to the start of the Amazing Race Stage:
Make your way to the front of Boost Juice on Fitzroy Street, St Kilda to receive your first RACE INFO card to begin your Amazing Race Stage around ST Kilda
At the Boost Juice we got our first RACE INFO card:
"Make your way to the right side of St Kilda Pier behind the Melbourne Yacht Club"
We followed the instruction, and found ourselves with a DETOUR - a choice between stand up paddleboarding (WET) or standing on long skateboards and propelling ourselves along with large sticks (DRY). There was a long queue for DRY. Naturally we chose WET. Equally as naturally we decided that kneeling was a lot more stable to paddleboard than standing up. This might have been because the only person we saw fall in - one of the volunteers - was standing. So we paddled out to one (non-flagged) buoy, across to another buoy and back in. The most tricky part was getting the boards back up on the sand actually. And that water was cold!
Another RACE INFO card, this one directing us to the front of Luna Park, where we would find our next clue. We headed in that direction, stopping only to wash our feet and put our shoes back on, and found directions to "Talbot Reserve". Granted I didn't write the instructions down or anything but I'm pretty sure they said "on the corner of Acland and Barkly Sts". Which would be close, but not actually correct - it's on the corner of Carlisle and Barkly Sts. Fortunately we checked on a map (ours was too big and the parks don't stand out well in black and white) and found it quickly. Listening to people after the race though, it was confusing - some people spent quite a bit of time wandering around St Kilda Botanical Gardens trying to find a clue. Literally.
At the reserve there was a beautifully tiled wall, which had been put together by local artists to represent St Kilda. Our next semi-Roadblock involved starting with one tile in the top left of the mosaic and then following a series of 23 instructions along the lines of "Go down 2 tiles" "Go right 5 tiles" until we found our final tile, which we then repeated to the volunteer manning the station. kirstenfleur was counting the tiles, I was reading out the instructions. We were about two thirds of the way through, when "go right 9 tiles" came up. "Are there more tiles around the corner?" We looked. "OK, let's start again."
This time I kept an eye on kirstenfleur while she counted... and sure enough we got to "go left 3 tiles" and she started heading right. Both of us are left/right blind, it figures! This time we ended up on a tile ("K") which turned out to be correct. Back to BoostJuice to get our card stamped and then we had completed the stage! We dived across the road to catch another tram back to the city and started planning our route, with particular attention to opening and closing times.
The easiest route (given that we were on a #16) was to Pursuit Stage 1:
The team must find "Clem's Island" under a pedestrian footbridge over a river.
I'd never heard of "Clem's Island" - which is not surprising really, because it's basically a pylon in the middle of the footbridge from Southbank to Flinders St Station. We found it quickly and headed for Challenge Stage 5:
Can you hit a bulls eye? Try your luck at the Bull and Bear Tavern downstairs.
Again Marcus had proved invaluable, providing us with an address on Flinders Lane near Elizabeth St. The challenge here was to get 25 points with three throws each at darts. We managed it, which was fortunate - more so as I'd managed a fairly low score to start with!
We jogged from Flinders Lane to our next Challenge Stage, number 6:
Make your way to Queensbridge Square to experience Melbourne's new Bike Share. Ideal for the short trip that 1 team member is about to make.
Over Queen's Bridge and with some help from a friendly passer-by who told us where the bikes actually were. kirstenfleur flopped to the ground when we got there, so I did the bike ride, which involved riding along Southbank back to the pedestrian bridge, walking the bikes over it (I missed the sign but the other two people with me didn't!), then riding back along the other side of the Yarra to Queensbridge Square again.
Off to the next Challenge Stage, number 3:
Scared of heights? It's time to confront your fears. Sharing its name with one of the largest snakes in the world, make your way to this store in South Wharf where one team member will test out their indoor rock climbing skills
This was of course South Wharf Anaconda's rock climbing wall, where we didn't go on this year's City Chase. We started jogging along Southbank. Nearing Clarendon St we were passed by a young man who did the fake "sprint past and raise your arms in victory" move, watched by his (adoring?) fans. Or friends. Whatever.
"Yes, mate you're a winner."
It's not often they give you an opening like that!
We kept jogging on, then had the sudden realisation that we might be able to complete one of the Collect Stages, number 3:
Find and collect a movie ticket stub from Saturday 28/8/10. Give this to the official at the end of the race to complete the clue.
So into Crown Cinemas we went. After checking a couple of bins (we're classy!) the guy behind the candy counter managed to attract our attention and gave us a used ticket. Obviously we weren't the first people to have this idea! We thanked him and headed off again to Anaconda.
At Anaconda kirstenfleur volunteered to climb the wall so I decided to grab some drinks. When I got back again she was half way up the wall already! I sculled my iced tea and cheered her up to the almost (literally, one left!) top when she slipped and abseiled down. They gave us the checkpoint! Which was good because kirstenfleur wasn't going back up again I think, having spent about the top third going "I really don't like heights..."
By this time we were getting pressed for time. Our next planned Challenge Stage, number 2, had a closing time of 2pm, and it was 1.30pm already. So off we jogged again, over the bridge to the tram stop. And there was a tram! Which according to the tram stop information would take us right to our next destination:
Relive your childhood memories by taking part in this fun challenge at Wonderland Fun Park, Harbour Town, Docklands.
For some reason I was convinced that this was the Iceskating Centre. Either way it was in Harbour Town, where our tram was going. Right up to when the driver announced that the tram was terminating about halfway. By this stage we only had 15 minutes to get to the location, and we still weren't sure where it was exactly. Off we ran again, round the front of Victoria Harbour, into Harbour Town, into a couple of dead ends... and then we found Wonderland Fun Park, which turned out to be a sort of carnival sideshow thing, with a minute to spare. It was in front of the Iceskating Centre though, so I wasn't completely off.
This stage involved two parts - the first was to go down the Giant Slide, which we completed quickly. The second was to ride the spider-like spinning ride. So we queued up... and ended up being second at the gate when they closed it again. *sigh*. Finally we got onto the ride, which involved much centrifugal force and quite a bit of sliding. By the time we got off the ride it was about 2.25pm. We got our card clipped and worked out our options. We still needed two Pursuits, one Challenge and a Collect Stage.
The sole remaining Challenge stage was stage 4:
Established in 1862, this is the oldest park in Melbourne, Victoria. Make your way to the North end of this park to compete in an activity made memorable by the comedy film 'Cracker Jack'.
Marcus had originally given us this as being located in Windsor - which is where "Cracker Jack" was filmed. Mid-way to Albert Park though he rang back and confirmed it as being in Flagstaff Gardens, where the Melbourne Bowls Club is located. Unfortunately it closed at 2.30pm.
We thought about it, decided there was no way we could get there in time and decided to focus on the remaining stages.
The obvious next stage was Pursuit Stage 3:
Make your way to Harbour Town, Docklands and find the outlet which claims to have "Elegant Fashion at Shed Prices"
We actually had no idea where this was, but we were in Harbour Town already, which was a start. So we started wandering around looking for it. En route we found a newsagent, which was not the right place, but it did allow us to complete Collect Stage 2:
Find and collect a postcard with a picture of a Melbourne tram on it
Found, bought, started wandering around looking for the Elegant Fashion shop again. A nice security guard saw us, and without us even asking told us it was on the first floor, right at the end. We clipped the card, then headed down to catch a city circle tram.
I was expecting the tram to turn up Latrobe St. It didn't, continuing back down to Flinders St. The race finished at 3.30pm, with a 30 minute penalty for each 15 minutes past the finish time. We were already going to be down 45 minutes for the missed Challenge Stage. Did we have time to make it to the last pursuit stage, number 2:
Sharing its name with the 16th President of the United States of America this Square contains a memorial to remember the australians who died in the 2002 bombings
Marcus confirmed this as Lincoln Square, which is on Swanston St in Carlton. Which is a long way from Flinders St, more so when the trams are running as buses to Latrobe St, then as trams again. I looked at my watch - 2.45pm. My guesstimate was that it would take us at least 20 minutes to get up to the square, then we'd need to find the clue, then get back again (another 20 mins once we caught a tram), and then get back out to the Belgian Beer Cafe (probably at least 30 but could also be closer to 40 mins).
We were also really tired, probably from the jogging.
"I think we're probably better off just going to the finish - even with the penalty we're going to end up ahead than if we try and get there and back. I think."
So we jumped off the severely overcrowded tram and took the tram to Domain and then a second tram back up to the Belgian Beer Cafe, coming in at 3.10pm.
Got our free sausage and watched the other teams come in.
The only remaining Collect stage we didn't do was number 1:
Rutledge Lane in the Melbourne CBD is renowned for its street art and graffiti. Find this laneway and look up high to count the number of white elephants painted on the wall.
Marcus had told us that this was a laneway-ette off the vastly more well known Hoiser Lane. Which is good, because the name was vaguely familiar but it certainly wasn't on any of our maps, and Melbourne is over-endowed with laneways.
All in all it was a fun day. The winners came in at about 1.16pm, which indicates just how tricky trying to get everything done in the time frame was, even for people who I'd guess ran all of it. The things I'd change were the clue sheet debacle at the start (I mean seriously) and probably add on a half hour to the time. Oh and not do it when Yarra Trams are busy screwing up the system!
Map route here.