One of the best experiences in Australia - rogaining

First look at the map. Not quite excited yet by the look of it. :)


I all honesty, my rogaining experiment had a bit of a rough and rocky start. I did not, I repeat, did not, fall in love with the sports immediately. Maybe it was because I had just come home from a lovely week in West Australia, and getting up at crack of dawn (well, at dark actually) is never an ideal start for a weekend for me.Little did I realise I'd be spending this weekend meeting deadlines when others are celebrating AFL league final; I appreciate getting up for rogaining lots more now.

I was also not very well prepared. Got a list of equipment to take with us: Gaiters - what ARE gaiters?  I obviously don't carry with me on travels ALL my waterproof gear, shoes for running in the the bush, let alone a camel-back. Panicked and asked the second, way more experienced member of Team Finland, Niina, what she has and can we just try to combine our possessions. Luckily Niina lives here, so we were about set when Saturday came. And what we didn't have, we borrowed from our ever hospitable host Len and his team mate Tim.

So, rogaining. What are we talking about here? Yes, the name is ambiguous, because you can't really tell that it even refers to sports. The name is based on the names of its creators ROd, GAIl and NEil. These men are still active part of rogaining, because Neil himself was giving us tips before we head off the track and too late did I realise that we definitely need a picture with him! (Remember my fan pictures with low FODMAP cookbook writer Nat?) But in the end of 6 hour rogaining session we were greeted by Neil at the finish, so this time we weren't going to miss the opportunity. :D



With Neil and Niina. I said I had the gear, I didn't say it matched. :´D


 Rogaining is basically group  orienteering (2-5 people in a team) with a map of a vast area, but instead of racing against time, you have a set time and you try and get as many points as possible. There are 6, 12 and 24 hour competitions, and this time we had to choose between 6 and 24. Hardly a difficult choice keeping in mind my whining about equipment previously... :D 





Team Finland ready to go!



Len had been saying that rogaining is a "must" before leaving Australia, and luckily there was an event coming up. Then I met Niina at skiking not long ago, and since she does orienteering, Team Finland was born. This meant joining Victorian Rogaining Association, which I'm now a member of. :D (Although my membership expires within 6 months... bummer. Would've sounded cool to say that longer.)

The place for the competition, Strathbogie Ranges, was very close by this time, about 2 hours from our place in Kew. I forgot my tiredness (the rogaining guidebook instructs to sleep enough before the race; I slept 5 h) when getting to the place, because the view looked very picturesque. And it just got better during the day. 



3rd place! After 200 m. ;)


The first 2 hours were spent making a route and calculating points and estimating how much we could get. We calculated over 700 points. Not all checkpoints are equal; the easier and most accessible ones are only 20, whilst the more difficult ones are  100. Our maximum was 70, but already the 40s were hard work!Since the map was designed with the 24 hour rogaineers in mind, we couldn't really reach the high-score places in the 6 hours that we had to spend. 

Just a note here, rogaining is flexible. If you feel like just wandering around the area, you are free to do so. You don't have to run or aim at getting most points, if you don't feel like it or you can't. The nature's there to be enjoyed!






Planning and getting excited as the day starts getting warmer.






Len and Tim, obviously from Australia. :D




Niina going all "look at this place, it's so beautiful!" And I agreed.

 It's really difficult to rank all the nice events I've had in Australia, but I can honestly say that I enjoyed rogaining immensely. The nature - beautiful, versatile and filled with fresh air (occasional poo aromas trickling in the nose due to sheep and cows, though - gives a nice ambiance). The track - I didn't realise I can run and walk for 6 hours climbing hilltops, crossing creeks barefoot and climbing over fences (or going in between barbwire and barbwire). Didn't outrun the kangaroos, but saw several very close by. :) Roaming the same forest and fields as they do, how cool is that?






I tell you the water was refreshing!

 


Posing break.





Back in the day, someone had had a beer break too.





At a checkpoint




Judging by the skulls and bones at the other end of this tree, Niina is standing on some fox's burrow.




Beautiful and very relaxed cows on the paddock. They sure have a view from their living room



Sunset. Somewhere behind the trees is the finish line.

 Well, I can do these things, my knee can't. I need to fix this runner's knee problems that forces me to stop running due to sharp, sharp, sharp pain. Especially when going downhill. Hence had to walk instead of running. We also ended up getting a bit lost, which cost us a lot of time, but oh, well, this was our first time orienteering and I think we learned from that mistake and were more careful in the end. Btw, I think I've finally learned to use a compass. :D

Even though I felt bad for not being able to run and gain more points, we ended up winning the novice and women's series with 530 points - yay! The second best got something starting with three hundred points.  Len and Tim did even better, they got over 800 points and were the best rogaineers for the day! The price was precious: a chocolate bar. :D 



We were rewarded with plenty of food when the stars started twinkling and bonfire was burning at the Hash House.


It would be fabulous to try the 24 hour event and I'm already looking into taking part in rogaining events in Finland. I didn't know we do rogianing, but now that I know, I really want this to become a new hobby! Plus there is bikerogaining, metrorogaining in the cities, on skis, even canoes! Take a pick - the checkpoints are waiting!

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Thanks Niina for making a day to remember and for the great pictures! Thank you Len and Tim for showing us why everyone should experience rogaining!



 Skippidy hop.


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Next week is the last week in Australia - for now that is. Therefore in honor of my hobby-focused (yes, beer drinking is considered a hobby in my book of records) travel blog we are combining all these themes into one with the girls! Let's hope I get as good pictures as Niina did from our rogaining session... ;)