Rogaining (in a thunderstorm)

For the last few years there has been a really excellent rogaine series in the Spring and Autumn months (roughly November and March).

Rogaining is like orienteering, except there’s no fixed route. You have a map, maybe 40 to 50 controls to choose from – and away you go. This latest one was in Sumner – which is a beautiful suburb of Christchurch – it’s very much its own little community.

The weather started out nice and warm, and then gradually got colder and colder – until we saw this rather ominous front moving in. Katrina (my scrabble nemesis – she thrashes me practically every Tuesday) is pictured here.

About – oh, 5 minutes after this picture was taken it got very cold, started raining, and then about a minute later started hailstoning. We were all in shorts – and those hailstones sting. Lots. So we sheltered in.. a shelter. With a tin roof and metal beams for supports. Always fun when the lightning had about.. oh, 1/2 second, if that, delay between flash and boom.

So we sheltered, our Nemeses (pictured at the start of the evening planning their route – Amy and Michelle who have beaten us in every rogaine to date (and probably this one too)), sheltered for about 4 minutes – and then headed out into the hailstones. That’s dedication.

After a while though it did clear up, and we had some beautiful, beautiful views. An utterly stunning double rainbow. Bright and clear. Just stunning. Also a very nice sunset to boot.

As I only had my little camera – and it was hailing, and my wee fingers were cold – it wasn’t really possible to get a decent panorama or wide-angle shot. However, I did take a very short video – so you can hopefully see just how stunning it was.

So, that’s it for us – will be packing next Wednesday for the 7 weeks of holiday. It really is a tough, tough life sometimes.

Sigh.