Team Building Ahoy!

On Friday we had an afternoon of corporate style team building around the CBD. The office got split into three teams of eight and we competed in an Amazing Race style event run by thrill.com.au

First off, we had to have a team chant! My team were red, and it was decided that we were the "Red Bulls". The other teams were "Blue Steel" and the extremely questionable "Yellow Perils".

So this was our chant, created by committee. I swear I had nothing to do with it.

"We're the Red Bulls
and we've got balls! (pause here to grab our crotches... no seriously).
Watch us score
then here us roar!"

Followed by a shout and then pretending we are bulls rushing one member of the team who was waving a red bandana. Throughout the entire thing we had to have the bull horns like this:

Want to hear my roar? I do it just after I score...

So we were off to a nice, tasteful and not at all easily mis-interpreted start! Next stop, Chinatown!

For some reason, I was put in charge of the money (they gave us $55 for the day, with strict instructions to get receipts for "points"). We all hopped on a bus and headed down to Little Hay Street. Once there we were supposed to shout out our team name and make an "Oriental style" arrival for bonus points. For some reason the "Yellow Perils" decided not to do this... no idea why...

The first challenge was a choice. They do it in the actual Amazing Race too, where you can do something easy but time-consuming, or something harder and faster. The two choices were to have a sedate round of chinese tea, or go buy something gross and then eat it. The other two teams went with the Tea, but our team got a serving of eel and all had a bite, so we got extra points for not being wusses.

May and Kelly "enjoying" their eel.

Once the challenge was done, we were given a string of numbers on a bit of paper and told that M=1. So N=2 etc, we soon decoded our next location, Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park. We weren't sure what the best public transport option was, so we decided to set off at a brisk walk. The yellow team was only a few minutes behind us, but by this stage the blue team had hit the pub (which should give you an idea of how they preformed generally).

Once at Hyde Park (racing to beat the yellows) we were given paper and crayons and told to create two portraits of team members, while learning all about them and generally getting closer as a team (awwwww). We and the yellows had both about finished when the blues arrived, they whipped up some stick figures and after solving another simple puzzle we were off to the next stop.

This is when it started to rain. And of course, that means we were up for a physical challenge... biking! Three brave souls from each team went out with nothing but our full body condoms to do a little (tiny actually) "race" on our bikes. Of course, it didn't matter at all who came first, it was all about who gave their teams enough support! ("Go Red Bulls!")

The ponchos, they do nothing!

I'm happy to report we won the race, although we ended up second points wise. One of the yellow team inexplicably volunteered despite having heels on, and ended up having to be pushed up the hill. Bonus points for teamwork yay!

To get to our next location, we first had to master a varient of the Ball in a Cup. It may have another name, but I call it Hoops on a Stick. And it is frustrating as HELL! We were supposed to get 1 hoop on the stick, pass it on then the next person gets 2 hoops on the stick etc. Almost totally luck based, some teams finished almost immediately and others took about a quarter of an hour plus some cheating before they could move on. And by "some teams" I mean "my team".

I hate you, Hoops on a Stick!

We were supposed to go somewhere outdoors after that, but they moved us to under the Opera House steps (after we finished another puzzle, of course!) Once there we had a choice between doing a Skit or doing a Sculpt. We went with Sculpt, and "recreated" the running of the bulls (I was goring someone!) No photos I'm afraid, it was too awesome to be captured on film.

The second to last stop was a grassy section on the other side of Circular Quay. After a quick stop for emergency gelato (we hadn't spent any money since Chinatown) we headed over and found ourselves all tied together, like one of those awful wood-and-rope puzzles you can never actually do. The objective was to get free without taking the rope off our own wrists, and even when showed the solution (the guy screwed it up himself three or four times!) none of the teams could get it to work. Good times.

Your first instinct is to start moving around like it can be untangled, but to solve it you actually need to stay still and just move your hands.

Once released by our jailors, our final stop was again revealed via a word puzzle, and we were off to the Harbour View hotel for a debrief and prizes. We got to spend whatever money we had left on drinks, and then handed in our receipts. The Blue team were worried they weren't going to get to keep their leftover cash, so they stopped at the Orient for a beer first while the rest of us waited for them. Did I mention the Blue team weren't really putting in the same amount of effort as the other two?

Once we were all at the pub, we gratefully had a cool drink and got off our feet for a bit (at this point we had been running around the city for 4+ hours). The organisers gave us a rundown and handed out a few small prizes for things like best portrait, worst cycler etc. Then it was the "big one", who had won. Obviously the Blue team had come third by a huge margin, but the Red and Yellow had been neck and neck all the way through. With the scores at 121, 117 and 100 respectively, the Red Bulls were announced the winners!

The amazing Red Bulls and their trophies!

We all got a little plastic trophy and a larger metal one for the office. Huzzah! After that the organisers left, and we all headed down to the Australian for some beer and pizza paid for by the Faculty. All in all it was a fun afternoon, and it beat the hell out of being at work!