Back in my pub crawling days in Sydney, Australia, the thing you hated to hear was for the barkeep to call out "Gentlemen, time." (It was always gentlement since the ladies were not allowed in the pub but had to partake in the public room adjacent) So I must now take the role of the barkeep and say TIME!
What do we have?
Some ideas and a whole lot of holes. So here goes.
We start off at the pit stop at the Jarbin Castle, Nizaw, Oman. Teams arrived just as the sun is setting at 5:21PM so we estimate that the teams would arrive and then will leave we think after a much needed 36-hour pit stop:
1. The Old Times Arrive at 5:00PM Leave at 5:00AM
2. MO/JO Arrive at 5:30PM Leave at 5:30AM
3. RaYolanda Arrive at 6:15PM Leave at 6:15AM
4. BeachBoys Arrive at 7:00PM Leave at 7:00AM
5. Hippies Arrive at 8:00PM Leave at 8:00AM, but first they have to beg for money!!!!
It is 151 miles as the crow flies from Nizwa to Muscat, so we have a lot of time to fill in before we have flights leaving Muscat for Perth. What do they do (beside chase after the attractive girls?) So perhaps their first clue will send them back to Muscat and then do some task in Muscat which we have not really seen as teams just went through the airport and then drove to Sur. This is a usual pattern for TAR, so lets say they have to locate some out of the way place or find some strange business to secure their next clue. (will research Muscat again to see if there is some really unique place for them to go to)This clue will finally tell them to fly from Oman to Perth, Australia and when they land they must make their way to Kings Park to find their next clue
The most obvious flight leaves at 8:40PM and connects through Dubai UAE. Once there they could run into trouble going throgh customs or what not and miss the first connecting flight which would get them to Perth at 5:25PM. And since the sun does not set until 7:00PM we have some more time to fill until we have the teams in Fremantle looking for a place to sleep and the town around the Chanber of Commerce really looks deserted and would you be looking for a place to sleep early in the evening. If they do arrive at 5:25PM, they may be hung up in customs and immigration for say an hour and a half (which happened in ep 5 when they were going through Rome on the way to Palermno. This all came out in Phil's blog later so it could happen again in Perth, especially since the plane is coming from UAE.)
So it may be, the teams miss the early connecting flight and do not get to Perth until the next flight arrives at 12:15AM. The teams get cabs and go to Kings Park, find the clue envelope which sends them to the Rottnest Ferry in Fremantle and then proceed to the Tourist Bureau in Thompson's Bay for their next clue. When they get there they find the truely unique BUNCH POINT and learn that the first ferry does not leave until 7:30AM
Teams now look for a place to sleep, the streets are deserted in the early morning, we hear MO saying "where can we find a hotel" (Look next door, sweetheart) The Old Timers find the Old Firestation Youth Hostel.
Come 7:30 all five teams are on the Eagle Express for Rottnest Island. When they get to the Tourist Bureau the next clue tells them to rent bikes next door and then pedal to the highest point on the island and find the Wadjemup Hill Lighthouse. A biKe ride of about 3 miles and should only take 20 minutes at the most. We have all five teams on bikes but none seem to be together so somehow everyone is lost or maybe it takes awhile for some teams to master the art of riding "bicylcles built for two" We are pretty sure that MO/JO head off for the wrong lighthouse and fall almost an hour behind the others.
When the arrive at the Lighthouse (exhausted!) the find their next clue. DETOUR. Task one: DIVE. Proceed to Salmon Point, put on bathing suits and snorkle gear and then swim out into Salmon Bay and proceed to dive and retreave sea life off the ocean floor (one or more of what we do not know). Task two: DRAG. Collect a number of dead bushes and drag them to the beach to form a signal fire. When the fire is burning you will receive your next clue.
We see the Beach Boys and MO/JO (oh, what a wonderful shot of MO, can we have more, please, please?) and we have Tyler and probably BJ dragging dead bushes. The Old Timers and RaYolanda are missing at the Detour.
After completing the Detour, teams are instructed to bike back to the ferry and return to Fremantle and then locate the old Fremantle Jail.
This may be wishful thinking but can the Hippies complete all this and bike to and from the Salmon Bay location and still make the 9:30AM ferry back to Fremantle?
? The timing arrived at by shadow studies seem to say that they did. So they now have gone from pennyless last to first. The other teams may not even make it back to Thompson's Bay to catch the 10:30AM ferry and therefore all end up in the Tea Room having a sit down (what's that?) lunch served for them. And do not leave until the 2:30PM ferry.
Meanwhile back in Fremantle when the teams arrive and locate the old jail (here we have The Old Timers really lost and frustrated and on the verge of losing it???) Arriving at the jail they find their next clue the dreaded ROADBLOCK. Who is good at searching and finding?? Search first for a special Iron Key, then find the jail cell that the key opens for the next clue. Tyler, of course, so he gets into protective gear, descends 20 meters down a verticle steel ladder into the tunnels under the jail. He must walk a bit, get into a small canoe and row along an underground river, find the key, then return up the steel ladder into the cell blocks and search among hundreds of old cells for the door that the key will open.
Later we have Yolanda, Jeremy and Mo in the tunnels or trying keys. The Old Timers are no where to be found. Tyler is off looking through doors ahead of the crowd, MO seems to be second and JO is calling out clues to her.
When the teams find the right jail cell, they will get the final clue directing them about one mile to the famous Fremantle landmark, The Round House which built in 1830 was the first jail for convicts being transported to Australia, and is now the oldest public building in the state. This is the Eighth Pit Stop in a race around the world and the last team to check in here MAY BE ELIMINATED.
First: The Hippies who without money or baggage go from Last to First.
Second: MO/JO just miss out on an exotic trip once again
Third: The Beach Boys keeping in the middle of the pack
Fourth and Fifth: Pick 'em: RaYolanda or The Old Timers.
Time, Gentlemen.
