Author Topic: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**  (Read 217505 times)

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Offline DrRox

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #375 on: January 06, 2011, 04:33:00 PM »
I can see the racer indicated by the red arrow being Cord but the one under the green arrow is not Jet. I agree that it is not a crew member either b/c of the backpack.
Perhaps it is Luke, I can't find a good pic of him from Sydney, anyone know what his pack looks like?

The green arrow probably points to Jet/Cord's cameraman.......check out the slacks, of the cameraman and soundman,  in Coutzy's photo I posted. Then compare them to the slacks of those two guys in BayBay's photo.

That park is a "rally point." They are waiting for all the teams and crews to arrive to go to their hotel. I assume that the cameraman and soundman have picked up their backpacks from the production assistants/roadies that take care of moving them from city to city.

If Jet is there, he is probably completely hidden by Flight Time, ie, Jet is between the cameraman and Cord.
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Offline DrRox

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #376 on: January 06, 2011, 05:26:37 PM »
Interesting picture of production in Sydney a friend sent me. Trying to figure out what all the stuff in the picture are!!!

Some things I have picked up are:
 - The water bottle packets say 'Tall Ship Water' which confirms (or pretty much confirms) that the Tall Ship was involved in the filming of Leg 1A
- Cabling shown in this and other photos I have indicate that production may have been there since the morning?



I would like to know just exactly where and when this photo was taken. This is a "Techie" table, set up for the people responsible for the battery packs for the cameras. I assume it is the local production crew that set it up. I think the backpacks belong to the TAR roadies (theatrical electrictions) that are in charge of the technical equipment, Not the backpacks of the cameramen or soundmen. I would assume that the cameramen and soundmen's backpacks are in a van parked near that downtown park where they end up. We have seen in the past the convoy of vans that TAR uses.

Is this Circular Quay?
« Last Edit: January 06, 2011, 06:29:51 PM by DrRox »
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Offline georgiapeach

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #377 on: January 06, 2011, 10:08:11 PM »
Very nice TarJunkie, thank you! :jumpy:

I agree DrRox...

BayBay... do we know where the techy table is exactly?
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Offline BayBay

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #378 on: January 07, 2011, 06:17:00 AM »
I am unsure exactly but it is in the vicinity of Town Hall and the anchor.

Offline DrRox

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #379 on: January 07, 2011, 10:19:35 AM »
I am unsure exactly but it is in the vicinity of Town Hall and the anchor.

I was just trying to figure out what the structure is in the background..with the arches. I guess it is a building, at first it looked like some kind of bridge arches.

Is this place a car park? Are those some kind of parking meters.....the black things sticking up?

From past races, we know that TAR has multiple production teams that arrive ahead of teams to set up the tasks and challenges and then work with the local hires. Then they flip flop on the different destinations. After Australia, that production team probably went to China to coordinate the activities in Lijiang and Kunming. The Japanese team probably headed to India to coordinate the activites there. Not meaning any kind of spoiler here, but just expounding on what we have seen WRP do in the past.
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Offline TarJunkie999

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #380 on: January 07, 2011, 11:00:36 AM »
I am unsure exactly but it is in the vicinity of Town Hall and the anchor.

 :lol:  exactly where you said it was, between the Town Hall and St. Andrews Cathedral (by the anchor). note the red circular park bench

That "modernist" building in the background of the spoiler photos had me stumped... never could find it in Google Earth street view.  Oh well.  ;)

Offline TarJunkie999

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #381 on: January 07, 2011, 11:27:27 AM »
 :js:  The "techie" table is alongside the Town Hall building.  Note similar architecture and the railing must have some white thing behind it in the spoiler photos.  Oh yeah, also found a picture of that "modernist" building near town hall.  :groan:

Offline DrRox

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #382 on: January 07, 2011, 12:37:20 PM »
Snake!!!  Snake!!!!       LOL..... We already had pics of it......back on page 12 of the Live sightings thread.....



The photos by bushpig (Michelle) and INtraX........lots of pics of the white drop that production hung on the railing. The is only one reason I can think of to hang that drop, there must be something else going on in the lower floors of the Town Hall and they didnt want to be distracted by TAR hanging out in the courtyard. Or they didn't want anyone in that building to see the TAR teams and start tweeting.....lol. Also Woolworths is across the street from Sydney Town Hall. Expains the last minute purchase by production.


Thanks TarJunkie999. If you hadnt found that photo of the corner of the Town Hall.....I would have never gone back and re-checked the photos of the courtyard. Apparently, there is a subway station beneath the courtyard too.


Unnecessary factoid.......not only does the Sydney Town Hall contain governmental offices, it also has a recital hall. According to Wikipedia, it was the premier concert venue in the city untill the Sydney Opera House was built.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2011, 12:57:35 PM by DrRox »
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Offline TarJunkie999

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #383 on: January 07, 2011, 01:46:06 PM »
 :lol:  snakes!?!   where  eeewwwww!   :lol3:   Actually, the white covering of the railings has nothing to do with TAR as the picture below shows.  Must have been added previously by the town over the years.  No surprise on the concert venue, as pictures of a huge pipe organ shows up when you google "sydney town hall".   :snicker:  

Offline DrRox

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #384 on: January 07, 2011, 02:08:08 PM »
Good find again.....guess the people in those offices got tired of people looking at them......Yeah, I found all the pics of the organ when searching out pics......I almost thought it was putting in pics of the church next door in with the Town Hall pics........but no.
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Offline Prophet

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #385 on: January 07, 2011, 02:31:12 PM »
DrRox and TarJunkie...
Ya'll have really found some good info!
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Offline BayBay

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #386 on: January 07, 2011, 03:13:49 PM »
The thing that stumps me the most is how stupid (or strategic) WRP was to have production set up at and teams resting at Town Hall. The main reasons are:

1. It is on George St - the busiest street on the CBD
2. It is right above Town Hall station - arguably the second busiest station in Sydney
3. It is constantly flocked with foot traffic and especially on a Tuesday in the afternoon, workers going home, school children etc

And go have ALL STAR teams just 'chilling' at Town Hall in a country which just had there TAR hype revived by TAR AUS and to have a sign up sheet pretty much on the middle of the sidewalk is either the stupidest or most brilliant idea I have ever heard - think the guy 'losing' his iPhone 4 in the bar

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #387 on: January 07, 2011, 04:22:49 PM »
The thing that stumps me the most is how stupid (or strategic) WRP was to have production set up at and teams resting at Town Hall. The main reasons are:

1. It is on George St - the busiest street on the CBD
2. It is right above Town Hall station - arguably the second busiest station in Sydney
3. It is constantly flocked with foot traffic and especially on a Tuesday in the afternoon, workers going home, school children etc

And go have ALL STAR teams just 'chilling' at Town Hall in a country which just had there TAR hype revived by TAR AUS and to have a sign up sheet pretty much on the middle of the sidewalk is either the stupidest or most brilliant idea I have ever heard - think the guy 'losing' his iPhone 4 in the bar

Great job to TarJunkie and DrRox!

and amen, BayBay. This has puzzled me from the beginning....why on earth? This is the type of spot where teams would usually be wsked away ....so something strange related to the second leg? :duno:

Very odd...and not well thought out by production...unless it was meant to be a gift to us? :lol:
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Offline DrRox

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #388 on: January 07, 2011, 05:14:17 PM »
BVM is normally so close on his timelines........this race just seems to be a lot of hurry up and wait. I wonder if he underestimated the quality of the teams.

I wonder if the plane diversion to Honolulu messed up the schedule for this leg in some way? It just seems to me that this race was out of sync for some reason. There was the park in Lijiang where the teams waited for a while too. I guess we will find out soon enough.
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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #389 on: January 07, 2011, 09:08:56 PM »
It is entirely possible that the delays encountered by the one flight that diverted to Hawaii on the way could have thrown the timeline for the Oz legs off. That makes sense to me on the one hand, and I'm doubtful we'll ever know from the episode on the other.
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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #390 on: January 08, 2011, 12:42:57 AM »
It is entirely possible that the delays encountered by the one flight that diverted to Hawaii on the way could have thrown the timeline for the Oz legs off. That makes sense to me on the one hand, and I'm doubtful we'll ever know from the episode on the other.

That's a good point. The rest of the race was so well hidden (aside from China and perhaps the Florida Keys) that we know little about what happened. To have this first leg in such a heavily traveled and public location strikes me as a last second change. Perhaps when teams got delayed (by a day?) on the way to Hawaii, a location that had been planned as the sign up area was not available and the square next to the Town Hall was the best that could be arranged on short notice. Then again, the aquarium at Manly and the public beach they used were bound to attraction attention, so maybe TAR just figured they were going to be seen and word would get out anyway, so it didn't make any difference. Did the teams spend the whole afternoon and overnight waiting period in the area next to the Town Hall or did they eventually get taken to a hotel for the night? If so, why didn't they do so as soon as they arrived to minimize the time they were in view of the public? While teams have spent the night camped out in public in the past, I don't think it's been done in a country where TAR is so widely viewed. When it was done in the past, the teams weren't All-Star teams that people would recognize. If things in Sydney were rearranged at the last minute, I suppose it's possible that TAR couldn't get 20 or 25 hotel rooms and thus the teams got to hang outdoors and wait. That whole turn of events in Sydney is puzzling. It could have hardly been set up better for us to get maximum spoilage.

This looks like it will be the season known for travel delays. We've got the plane diverted to Hawaii, the suggestion that planes into Europe were delayed due to bad weather, the possibility that trains were used in Europe rather than flying for the same reason and the delayed flight either into or out of Brazil (I forget which it was) due to pilot illness. Have we seen that many flight problemss in the past? I can't remember a season with that many issues.

Offline BayBay

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #391 on: January 08, 2011, 02:09:04 AM »
Although we did experience a diversion it only set some teams back 4 hours?? at most. Not enough time to stuff up a whole leg!

According to the Manly Local Council's website: "If filming relates to a private property, then at least five working days notice is required."

Also: "The Filming Production Company shall be subject to a further 75% of the application fee, should alterations to an issued filming permit subsequently be requested."

Additionally: "In the event of cancellation due to bad weather and/or change of filming/photography dates, rescheduling must be sought a minimum of one day prior to the new date."

I'm not sure of the costs but I doubt that WRP just has extra money to throw around.

SOURCE: http://www.manly.nsw.gov.au/IgnitionSuite/uploads/docs/2010.2011%20Film%20%20Application.pdf

Basically there MUST have been some wisdom between using Town Hall as the rest stop. They might have assumed that teams would have checked in by 1pm?? And having known that they would be staying overnight, they would have moved to somewhere more comfortable?? I am not sure TBH.

Offline Coutzy

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #392 on: January 08, 2011, 02:59:23 AM »
Basically there MUST have been some wisdom between using Town Hall as the rest stop. They might have assumed that teams would have checked in by 1pm?? And having known that they would be staying overnight, they would have moved to somewhere more comfortable?? I am not sure TBH.

The sign at Oceanworld had them closed until 2 PM, so I think they thought the last team would be out by roughly1 PM

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #393 on: January 08, 2011, 08:28:03 AM »
It could be something as simple as the rooms were not ready at the hotel yet. They do monitor this site, so maybe they knew it was already spoiled....so why get in a hurry to get the teams off to their hotel.
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Offline Coutzy

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #394 on: January 08, 2011, 08:29:36 AM »
Its possible that they wanted to film some shots of the teams milling and chatting as well.


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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #395 on: January 08, 2011, 08:36:12 AM »
As Peach has already pointed out.......they only let them do ESM in the early part of the race now. They got to do the ESM after Broken Hill mat.....then the train ride to Sydney allowed that too...and in Lijiang after the mat there too and the trip back to Kunming..
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Offline Caelestor

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #396 on: January 08, 2011, 03:02:47 PM »
It is entirely possible that the delays encountered by the one flight that diverted to Hawaii on the way could have thrown the timeline for the Oz legs off. That makes sense to me on the one hand, and I'm doubtful we'll ever know from the episode on the other.

That's a good point. The rest of the race was so well hidden (aside from China and perhaps the Florida Keys) that we know little about what happened. To have this first leg in such a heavily traveled and public location strikes me as a last second change. Perhaps when teams got delayed (by a day?) on the way to Hawaii, a location that had been planned as the sign up area was not available and the square next to the Town Hall was the best that could be arranged on short notice. Then again, the aquarium at Manly and the public beach they used were bound to attraction attention, so maybe TAR just figured they were going to be seen and word would get out anyway, so it didn't make any difference. Did the teams spend the whole afternoon and overnight waiting period in the area next to the Town Hall or did they eventually get taken to a hotel for the night? If so, why didn't they do so as soon as they arrived to minimize the time they were in view of the public? While teams have spent the night camped out in public in the past, I don't think it's been done in a country where TAR is so widely viewed. When it was done in the past, the teams weren't All-Star teams that people would recognize. If things in Sydney were rearranged at the last minute, I suppose it's possible that TAR couldn't get 20 or 25 hotel rooms and thus the teams got to hang outdoors and wait. That whole turn of events in Sydney is puzzling. It could have hardly been set up better for us to get maximum spoilage.

This looks like it will be the season known for travel delays. We've got the plane diverted to Hawaii, the suggestion that planes into Europe were delayed due to bad weather, the possibility that trains were used in Europe rather than flying for the same reason and the delayed flight either into or out of Brazil (I forget which it was) due to pilot illness. Have we seen that many flight problemss in the past? I can't remember a season with that many issues.


Hopefully not a repeat of All-Stars. The flight issues really caused that season major problems.

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #397 on: January 10, 2011, 12:35:11 AM »
Maybe they were just getting our hopes up by throwing them into easilly spottable areas in the first leg, only to hide them very well for the rest of the race! :neener:
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Offline north09

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #398 on: January 11, 2011, 02:06:52 PM »
Maybe they were just getting our hopes up by throwing them into easilly spottable areas in the first leg, only to hide them very well for the rest of the race! :neener:

That was my thought. It got us and other sites talking, didn't it?

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Re: TAR 18 Locations/Destinations **spoilers**
« Reply #399 on: January 11, 2011, 02:18:21 PM »
Maybe they were just getting our hopes up by throwing them into easilly spottable areas in the first leg, only to hide them very well for the rest of the race! :neener:

That was my thought. It got us and other sites talking, didn't it?

In eastward years, the final teams are easily spotted in Asia and Australia. The writers were wise to make TAR 18 a westward, since the teams are already recognizable.
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