TWALK 2009

So it was that time of the year again – TWALK. TWALK stands for 24 hour walk. It’s an orienteering/rogaine event run by the Canterbury University tramping club every year. And it’s a lot of fun!!.

Everyone dresses up in costume (below Maaike as a topical Swine Flu carrier)

We were dressed up as lemmings.. no pics which really show it off unfortunately.. but there were lots of really great costumes – including the ghostbusters and pacman!

This year I was jointly in-charge (with Michelle) of the navigation as my usual navigator, Steve, is in France. And I loved it!!. I probably ought to have more confidence in my navigational abilities… though it *was* perfect blue-skies conditions and pretty easy terrain to navigate through. Still.. we walked about 32km from 10:30->01:15 and knew where we were pretty much all the time!

It was pretty damn cold at night – beautiful stars, but damn cold. I slept in my down jacket, and had two pairs of thermals on my legs, my feet tucked into the sleeves of another thermal top, and inside my reasonably nice sleeping bag… and I was comfortable. Still there was ice on the inside in the morning!

So yes, all in all a really excellent weekend. I would like to do more of the navigation I think, though I recognise that it was *easy* with lots of people around and perfectly perfect conditions.. still.. it was a good effort.

Thanks to my team-mates Michelle, Andrew (McTaggart) (who’s pictures these are), and Kylie… we lived up to our team-name (Maximum J (for enJoyment)) brilliantly.

And before she says it, Maaike’s team did thoroughly pummel ours, but then what do points matter when they were bickering all the way, and limping onto the bus with blood filled blisters leaking out their shoes (note, may not be true)