New Zealand – North Island

Episode 9.3
16 April 2003



1  2  3  4  5


Contestants Jamie Hodge and Stephen Finch, former work colleagues in the newspaper business
Start Position Mokoia Island, Lake Rotorua
Clue 1 By azalea’s genus, The Thinker and Kiss were part of this. The first book’s 19:24 is a sign to get you hands dirty too! 1
Leads to Hell’s Gate geothermal area – by Sodom & Gomorrah spring, in hollow log filled with muddy water
Clue 2 On the other side, inside (hang on, got a hat?) a hemisphere holds an ovine Kent character who’s nearly a QPR legend. 2
Leads to Agrodome, near Ngongotaha – by Romney Marsh sheep in display of breeds
Clue 3 Go to town for a pool of many islands where an elementary Curie-ous discovery can be made at body temperature.
Leads to Polynesian Spa, Rotorua – on blue balloon in 37°C Radium and Priest pool 3
Clue 4 Down under, there’s a William Morris movement. Blow past the canoe – what does the village pataka have in store? 4
Leads to Maori Arts & Crafts Centre – in pataka
Clue 5 The right path has the 2p coin’s reverse and a big splash. Eyes down – win the pot (a ‘kete’) over a tricky card game. 5
Leads to Maori Arts & Crafts Centre – in basket hanging over side of bridge in geyser area
Result The contestants ran out of time on the final clue


Notes
● As usual, the cameraman was Guy Littlemore and the sound recordist was Simon Burles, but the helicopter was flown by local pilot Barry (instead of Keith Thompson).
1 The helicopter flies east towards Rhododendron Gardens (azalea’s genus) and then on to Hell’s Gate geothermal area (‘The Gates Of Hell’ was a huge, uncompleted sculpture commissioned for a Paris museum that was to have contained Rodin’s famous statues ‘The Thinker’ and ‘Kiss’). Suzi lands and runs to the Sodom & Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24) spring, where she finds a hollow log full of therapeutic mud from the spring. The clue is in the mud (get your hands dirty).
2 Ngongotaha (haNG ON GOT A HAt) is across Lake Rotorua from Hell’s Gate. The nearby Agrodome contains a display of sheep (ovine) breeds, one of which is a New Zealand Romney Marsh (Kent character; Rodney Marsh was a QPR footballer). The clue is next to the sheep.
3 Rotorua’s Polynesian (many islands) Spa contains the Radium (element discovered by Curie) and Priest adult pools, one of which is at 37°C (body temperature). Two bathers are guarding the clue, which is attached to a blue balloon floating in the water.
4 After flying south (down under) and entering the Maori Arts and Crafts Centre (William Morris was a founder of the Arts & Crafts movement), Suzi runs to the central green (where there is supposed to be a canoe) and finds a man blowing a conch shell (blow past the canoe). He directs her to the Maori village, where a group of dancers is performing, and to a nearby pataka (village food store) which contains the clue.
5 Suzi follows a path (the right path) and runs past the Prince of Wales Feathers (feathers on reverse side of 2p coin) and Pohutu (big splash) geysers to a bridge (tricky card game) over a river. Another group of Maori dancers is performing on the bridge, and beside them is a conch shell, which Suzi checks. The treasure is hanging over the side of the bridge is a small basket (a kete is actually a small cooking pot) but the contestants run out of time before Suzi discovers it.





Information © David Hodges, 2003

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Page last modified: 25 August 2013, 20:30