Waitangi Summer Carnival - questions from OZ

leepback Posted: 8 January 2008, 9:41 AM   Hello Kiwi Orienteers Just booked some cheap flights across the Tasman so my wife and I could enter your carnival and I have a few questions for you learned NZ orienteers. Possibly more to come when I plan a bit more. 1. What are the start times (AM/PM) for each event? Obviously the relay is at night and the street-o is in the evening but can't find much detail regarding the other. 2. We are flying in/out of Hamilton (saves us about $AUS 300-500) and were thinking about getting a "sleeper van" but seems like not many rental places there. Does anybody know/recommend any that are reasonably priced? Would it be silly to drive up to Auckland to pick one up? We could drop it there after the Auckland events and it doesn't seem that far. 3. We have early morning arrival, just after midnight, (as usual with cheap tickets) and fairly early morning departures and were wondering about sleeping at the airport. (yes we Aussies are cheap, even worse than the Scots) I've consulted my favourite website www.sleepinginairports.com and Hamilton isn't mentioned. Is it 24hour, safe and do people crashout there? (Note: we have slept on the ferry warf at Picton once, Christchurch airport twice and a few others in Europe) 4. Supposing we don't sleep at the airport on arrival what is the best (and by this I mean cheapest) way of getting into Hamilton. Are car rentals open at the airport after midnight? Obviously there would be taxi's but I try to avoid such means of transport where possible. Does the shuttle bus run at that time? 4. What courses should a middle of the bunch M45A and W35AS enter. We were thinking Red2 for me and Red3 for my wife. Looking at the other Aussies this seems to be about right but there are no distances mentioned and I did DNF at a 2006 event in the freezing rain down south near Gore about 14 months ago even though I am a much better navigator than runner. 5. What's petrol/diesel cost at the moment (not that it makes any difference as we can't really go without) Does it fluctuate wildly dependent upon the day of the week like here (weekend's always dearest - Tuesdays cheapest) 6. Have they opened another Govinda's restaurant in Aukland yet. Went to a great one there many years ago but last time we were there it didn't exist and I think even the building was demolished (my wife is a vego) 7. Will NZ bag a gold medal at this years Olympics? (oops - sorry, had to have a bit of a sledge) Suppose some of this I can get by more surfing but I need to get some work done here to pay for our trip so I need your help. Hope you can assist. Geoff & Margaret Newcastle PS good luck to all the organisers - we've just held the Christmas 5-Day carnival at Newcastle and know what a task you have.   addison Posted: 8 January 2008, 3:06 PM   Hi Geoff, (1) Done via event ID: -> 1, Most likely middayish, early PM -> 2, Night Relays, late PM -> 3, AM -> 4, Afternoon, PM -> 5, Not confirmed -> 6, AM -> 7, Afterwork Summerseries, PM -> 8, AM -> 9, AM (2) We highly do not recommend a campervan in all honesty. Check out the accommodation page on the waitangi site, we are organising some in Hamilton and have recommendations for others. If you do not want to camp at the night relays, I recommend Acacia Bay Holiday Park which is just down the road from the Night Relays. (3)I suspect the airport actually shuts to be honest after your flight. (4) There are shuttles into Hamilton, might pay to do a bit of a search for these. Taxis are quite reasonably priced as well. (5) Petrol ~$1.70-$1.75 a litre. Diesel maybe ~$1.35 (6) No idea (7) Of course, more than one :-)   davemeyer Posted: 8 January 2008, 4:00 PM   ive slept in auckland airport   Greg Posted: 9 January 2008, 12:48 AM   4 ii) Red 2 and Red 3 sound about right   mick finn Posted: 9 January 2008, 3:21 AM   2) I think the Acacia bay Holiday park is booked out because of the Great lake Relay race   leepback Posted: 11 January 2008, 7:11 AM   Thanks for the help...our trip is beginning to come together.   onemanfanclub Posted: 11 January 2008, 12:10 PM   4 ii a) Don't worry about your Waikaia experience: the only map in NZ anything like Waikaia IS Waikaia, and the only thing weatherwise that the northen North Island can throw at you in February which would compare to THAT weekend, would be the tail end of a tropical cyclone...   leepback Posted: 11 January 2008, 4:05 PM   As a matter of fact my DNF was at Waikaia (up past Piano Flat I think) It was still fun (but very frustrating) even though I was lost at the extreme end of my course and still had to go just as far to finish. I ended up just heading for the road and came down a very wet mini gorge/watercourse. I think it all came about because I didn't respect the map and how difficult it would be. This played out for a while (maybe I was lucky) but then I came unstuck in a big way halfway around. The terrain and forest reminded me of the few runs I've had in Europe and Scandinavia and was entirely unlike most of the stuff we run on around here. Still wouldn't mind trying it again for the challenge.   Greg Posted: 14 January 2008, 6:29 AM   The Great Lake Relay race is on the 16th Feb   mick finn Posted: 14 January 2008, 12:46 PM   too true Greg; but unfortunately they are full up - apparently there is some high profile international orienteering event on over the weekend of Feb 2