Crazy week part 3 - Easter 3 Day Kingaroy

Tuesday, 19 April 2022

Please note that I am writing this update sprawled in the lounge in the living room of our spacious apartment on the Gold Coast. The master bedroom here is bigger than the entire motel room that we all stayed in in Kingaroy  - the last 7 days feel a bit like a blur now. 

Good Friday

After our late arrival we were up and about pretty early so we could avoid traffic getting out of Brisbane.  As we have picked up an extra passenger (the lovely Riley who travelled with us in NZ), I grabbed a lift up with Jo who was staying nearby, so we could fit everyone and the bags into the mitsubishi ASX we hired.

It was about a 2 hour drive to the first event which was the family relays and elite prologue. It was a nice grassy area with big boulders and a few creeks. I managed to miss a control but luckily I wasn't selected on the family relay team so I didn't ruin it for them. I think they finished a respectable 10th or so.

We then drove another hour or so to Kingaroy - peanut capital of Australia. We checked into our dodgy but completely acceptable motel then immediately went over to our friends' cabin in the neighbouring holiday park to use their kitchen and pool.

Saturday

The first official day of the easter 3 days competition - I had a good run, Jon was good for the first half, Zali made a dumb mistake reading the number upside down on the control and thinking she was in the wrong place then spending 30 minutes looking for what she had already found, while Jett did fine. In the afternoon we hit the big Kingaroy tourist destinations.

Namely here:

and here:

 Sunday

Day 2 of competition - fun again but I made some mistakes which permanently cost me the overall lead.  Jon went about the same, Zali improved her reading skills and won the day, and Jett and Riley both did really well to finish their long courses (13+ straight line - 16ish by the time they were done).   We had a nice dinner with our NSW friends at the RSL before collapsing in our little motel room to recover.

Monday

The final day. I made one dumb mistake and finished 2nd over all. Jon was the same, as was Zali (which was a good recovery after her disaster on the 1st day). Jett had a good run and was very respectable overall given he's running 20E and he's 16. Riley had a rest day to recover from the big run yesterday. 

The arena on Monday was fantastic. There were beautiful grass trees everywhere and a nice little clear area to watch all the orienteers on their courses running around the nearby rocks.

After the event and the presentations we went for a swim at the local waterhole/waterfall. It was really lovely.

Then we drove the 3 hours down to the Gold Coast where we are for the next week.