Six teams and some onlookers assembled at the Yarraville and Seddon Bowling Club car park on a cold but clear and dry winter’s evening. All hunts were two-legged except for the supper hunt, and in total nine transmitters were active during the evening, all on 2m.
The first hunt commenced with the YQN Pajero hiding in boggy ground off Jamieson Way west of Sanctuary Lakes Point Cook, 207G6. Lots of watts – I could hear the fox on the hand-held from the meeting spot, but only three teams got in – VK3s VR, YDF and BLN. VK3s OW, BQZ and TXO did not reach the first fox within ten minutes.
The second leg was Graham VK3KOA and Douglas operating the good old WIA fox, hidden in a short laneway between a service station and McDonalds at Lunn Crt Altona Meadows, 53B11. On leg time, YDF was in first, followed by BLN, OW, VR, BQZ and TXO.
The second hunt started with Roger VK3HRL transmitting while mobile near Galvin Park Werribee. While motoring around the neighbourhood, power levels were varied from 3 to 30 Watts (at times it might have seemed like more) at random. Eventually Roger went to ground in Galvin Park itself, still transmitting from the car. All successful hounds got in on foot (surprisingly). VK3YDF preceded VR and BLN by two minutes, with OW two minutes later again. VK3s BQZ and TXO got in after ten minutes .
The second leg involved Peter and Matt walking along a bike path with Bryan’s gaffer tape special. To speed things along a bit the location was amended to the streets near Wattamolla Ave Werribee, 205G6. On leg time VK3BQZ equalled VK3VR, beating YDF by one minute. BLN and OW took several minutes longer while TXO missed the deadline.
The third hunt started with the WIA fox buried in the playground at Tyrone St Werribee 206C6. The north boundary of the playground fronts the railway reservation, and as hoped some teams assumed the fox was adjacent to the main line. Don’t know why. Anyway, several hounds had to climb the boundary fence to gain access to the fox. VK3YDF was first again, followed by VR and then all at once BQZ, TXO and BLN. VK3OW failed to locate this fox.
The second leg was Roger HRL on the handheld directly adjacent to the Geelong main line just north of Cottrell St Werribee 205H8. By coincidence this location was only 200m from the end of the second leg of the second hunt. This was intended to be a bit obvious but the field was spread nonetheless. On leg time VR was in first, followed by BQZ and YDF. Due partly to a failure by Roger to activate the handheld’s keylock and partly to a veritable plummet down an embankment, the fox was operated 25 kHz low for about 6 minutes. Subsequent teams were given a six-minute credit – allowing BLN and TXO to both score 8. VK3OW missed the time limit. Roger was supremely happy to have found a great train-spotting location, but for some unknown reason no-one else showed any interest…
The fourth hunt started with Graham VK3KOA and Douglas poorly concealed at the north end of a lane off Hoppers Lane Werribee South 206J8. VK3OW was in first, followed by BLN, YDF and TXO, VR and BQZ.
The second leg was the Peter and Matt with the gaffer tape fox in the new development west of Conquest Drive Werribee 205K6. This area was once the CSIRO’s animal research centre and is now a haven for Werribee’s moccasin set. On leg time VK3VR was in first, followed by BLN, YDF, TXO, OW and later on BQZ.
The supper hunt was (at last!) a single leg event, and all hounds had been given written details of the supper location. It was no surprise then that the field was a little bit bunched, but spread out enough to suggest that this was challenging for some. The fox was the WIA fox simply placed on playground equipment in the park adjacent to Roger’s QTHR (aka Supper location), 202B8. VK3BLN was in first, followed by YDF and BQZ, then VR, OW and TXO.
All hounds then walked over to supper, which commenced 15 minutes later than promised. However, scores had been calculated, checked and announced by 2350 to the delight of the more weary of the travellers. Everyone seemed reasonably content, although there was an apparent shortage of hot food. The mystery was resolved two hours later when the lost tray of party pies was discovered on the top shelf of the oven… D’Oh! Matt and Bob the dog were most pleased.
Scores, from a maximum possible 60 points:
Team Hunt Hunt Hunt Hunt Hunt Total Place 1 2 3 4 5 VK3OW 10+4 4+5 10+10 0+4 3 50 4 VK3BLN 9+3 2+4 5+8 1+1 0 33 3 VK3YDF 5+0 0+1 0+3 3+2 1 15 1 VK3VR...0+5 2+0 1+0 8+0 2 18 2 VK3BQZ 10+8 10+0 5+3 8+8 1 53 5 VK3TXO 10+9 10+10 5+8 3+3 4 62 6
Apologies for the lateness of this report; such behavior is not to be tolerated and had better not happen again.
Regards,
Roger Lewis