The apex Swiss race

Well this is it. Team Macpac GOT is about to embark on yet another mystery tour adventure race - there are lots and lots of hills, some awesome scenery, some challenging times, and some incredible highs and lows ahead of us - all we can hope for is that we travel in the right direction, stay safe, look after each other and complete as much of the course as we can - thanks for all your support so far - enjoy the Dot !! Please yell at us down the computer if we take a wrong turn. Jill,Craig,Anne and I met at Auckland airport last Thursday evening and began our journey to Switzerland. We started with a 10 hour flight to Shanghai followed by a 12 hour flight to Zurich then a 2-3 hour train ride through to Interlaken via Bern - let me just say that traveling with four bikes two bins and four heavy backpacks is not a lot of fun, particularly when changing trains in a busy station where the platforms are miles from each other. We arrived in Interlaken pretty knackered around 8 pm local time and then headed to the nearest restaurant for our first Swiss meal. We spent the next day shopping, taste testing race food and getting a feel for the place. We had a nice wee bike ride to the nearest lake and generally lazed around. The next day we were involved with the camera team from Nothin butt shorts shooting some footage for the wild racers series - they took us up to a local high point in a cable car and then made us ride 6 km up a hill - it was a great way for us to see some local sights and get a feel for the maps and local terrain. The following day I was raining so we sleep in, finished shopping, caught buses and chilled out. Today was spent doing gear checks, marking maps, packing gear and getting ready to race.. Tomorrow we have a 9 am start but a 6.15am departure to the race start location. Bring it on - we can't wait to get out and explore the area ...woo hoo