The Romp, which is part-Amazing Race, part-puzzle, and part-treasure hunt is held in the City of Melbourne each year to raise funds for the Burnet Institute.
Checkpoints are spread out over the city and as each team crosses the starting line in the Alexandra Gardens on the edge of the Yarra River, you are texted your first compulsory checkpoint – after that it is up to the team as to which and how many checkpoints you visit. The four-hour limit starts when you get that first text.
We entered a family team, and were armed with my mobile phone to text our answers to the challenges at each checkpoint back to Romp headquarters. You immediately get a response as to whether your answer was correct, how much of your four hours you have left and what your current score is.
Our first checkpoint was in Chinatown, so we hopped onto a tram heading up Swanston Street, which allowed me to quickly scan all the checkpoint grid references on the clue sheet and mark them on the map. We had 34 checkpoints to choose from.
The use of public transport is encouraged, but no travelling in cars, and no running or splitting up. Cousin It misread that part and seriously informed us as she read out the rules, that there was no “spitting up” allowed.
During our four hours we made it to sixteen checkpoints and visited:
- Chinatown
- The QV Women’s Centre
- Melbourne Mindgames store
- Melbourne University
- Lygon Street
- The Melbourne Museum
- Trades Hall
- Melbourne Town Hall
- The Christian Science Library in Degraves Street
- Federation Square
- Melbourne Visitors Centre
- The Burnet Institute at The Alfred Hospital
- Fawkner Park
- Fawkner Park Tennis Courts
- The Victorian College of the Arts
- Queen Victoria’s statute
- The rowing boatsheds
…phew.
At each of the checkpoints we were randomly allocated challenge cards. Some were easy, some were a bit more tricky. We got a few wrong, but most right…and we dispute a couple of the answers!
Along the way, the girls had Romp passports which were stamped at each checkpoint – exactly the right amount of involvment to keep a six year old entertained.
And, just in case we were in contention for one of the main prizes, we had to swing by the billboard above Young & Jacksons to do the tiebreaker question: “Rompers – how many red spots can you see?”
The impossible part about counting the spots was that the billboard rotates through a number of advertisements every ten seconds or so. We worked out pretty quickly that the only way to do this was to take a photo of it when it appeared, and count them on screen as we sat on the tram to the Burnet Institute!
There was a protracted debate about whether the ‘spot’ that the sixteen smaller spots made up, should be counted too. Eventually it was a four to one vote, with The Impossible Princess abstaining…and Cousin It, who said it should just be the small spots that we were counting was over-ruled.
Looking at it now, as I uploaded the pic, I’ve realised she was right, but not for the reason she thought. It says “how many RED spots can you see”…and the larger ones are red and white.
I suspect our tiebreaker answer won’t be needed anyway.
All up, a fabulous fun way to race around your own city, finding places you never knew existed and looking at everything in an entirely different way.
We’ll certainly be romping again next year!
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