Topic: TAR AUS 5 ROUTE (including media info) (SPOILERS)

[stunami]

So after suggestion from Peach, I figured I would get the ball rolling.

Legs:

Leg 1: Newell/Mossman
Leg 2: Goldcoast
Leg 3: Winton/Longreach
Leg 4: Townsville/Palm Island
Leg 5: Magnetic Island
Leg 6: Cairns/Fitzroy Island/Green Island
Leg 7: Darwin
Leg 8: Around Darwin
Leg 9: Alice Spring
Leg 10: Coober Pedy

Then we should have:
 
Leg 11: Adelaide
Leg 12: Port Lincoln

Here is what we have left from the original Live sighting/Trailers by region: (will be updated with New trailers)




Tasmania

Hobart
New Norfolk
Launceston

New South Wales

Hunter Valley
Gulgong
Broken Hill
Blue Mountain
Bathurst
Dubbo
Orange
Sydney
Woolgoolga

Western Australia still TBC

Broome (Beau spotted only)
Esperance

Then the finale is in Canberra


By date:
06 October 2020: Starting Line: Mossman River opening/Newell QLD (Leg 1)
07 October 2020: Gold Coast/Brisbane, QLD (Leg 2) Exact date unknown
08 October 2020: Longreach Airport (Beau spotted)
09 October 2020: Winton, QLD (Leg 3)
10 October 2020
11 October 2020: Townsville, QLD
12 October 2020: Palm Island, QLD
13 October 2020
14 October 2020: Magnetic Island, QLD
15 October 2020
16 October 2020: Green Island / Fitzroy Island, QLD     
17 October 2020
18 October 2020
19 October 2020: Arrival into Darwin (Supah)
20 October 2020: Darwin, NT
21 October 2020: Depart for Alice Springs (Aussie)
22 October 2020: Alice Springs, NT
23 October 2020
24 October 2020: Adelaide, SA
25 October 2020
26 October 2020: Port Lincoln, SA
27 October 2020
28 October 2020: Coober Pedy?
29 October 2020: Adelaide to Brisbane noon flight (Xorux)
30 October 2020
31 October 2020
01 November 2020
02 November 2020: Hobart, TAS
03 November 2020
04 November 2020: New Norfolk, TAS
05 November 2020: Esperance, WA (Spec)
06 November 2020: Broome, WA(Spec)
07 November 2020
08 November 2020: Hunter Valley, NSW
09 November 2020: Gulgong, NSW
10 November 2020
11 November 2020: Broken Hill, NSW
12 November 2020
13 November 2020:
14 November 2020: Canberra, ACT

[stunami]

Tasks in legs we know:


Townsville & Palm Island: Leg 4
- Castle Hill
- Visit to a school and the fish & chip shop where they had to deliver pizzas to houses that supported specific footy teams.

Magnetic Island: Leg ?
- Fire eating

Green Island: Leg ?
-Task involves water

Darwin
- Crocodylus Park
- Race in a car while holding a goldfish at Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin

Alice Spring
- Outback Ballooning

Adelaide
- Pitstop at Trinity Church (Spec?)
- RoofClimb Adelaide Oval

Port Lincoln
- Task Festival Tuna Toss
- Location: Outside Del Giorno's Cafe cluebox
- Sealion task

Coober Pedy
- Southbound at the Manguri Siding outside Coober Pedy
- The Ghan tourist train

New Norfolk
- Ghostly element (?)
- Bush Inn on Montagu St.

Hunter Valley
- Team spotted in the Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley

Gulgong
- Prince of Wales Opera House

Gold Coast
- Gold Coast Aquatic Centre (Sefa & Jessica)
- Mike Hatcher Race Track
- AquaLoop at Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast
- Surf rescue with the Gold Coast’s Volunteer Life Saving Service

Seen in previews but still unknown location:
- Aerial structure with racers attached and must pass big balls (Multiple teams)
- Frogs task (From the Cowboys preview. Malaan & Tina also spotted)
- Task with mask and glasses with big pile of wood (Kimberly cousins preview)
- Crocodile carrying task (Sefa & Jessica)
- Underwater Scooter/submarine thing

[stunami]

Starting Line: Mossman River opening




Daintree (From the preview)





Longreach (From Preview)







Townsville





Coober Pedy (ACCORDING to the trailer, please correct if wrong)

 Umoona Opal Mine And Museum






Adelaide





Port Lincoln








Blue Mountain leg

Empress Falls in Leura, NSW





Gold Coast Leg

Mike Hatcher Race Track in the Labrador suburb of Gold Coast

[stunami]

Unknown: Need help from the Aussies




7

8


19: Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin

20: Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin

21: Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin

22: Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin

23: Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin

24: Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin



26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34: ADELAIDE OVAL

35

[stunami]

Save

[stunami]

Please feel free to right to me to add anything.
Thanks Alenaveda for the captions!


Could #18 be the Leuralla Public Gardens Amphitheatre in BlueMountain National Park? Which would mean we have a pitstop there

[Xoruz]

19-25 are the Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin.

The mine appears to be the Umoona Opal Mine And Museum in Coober Pedy.

[georgiapeach]

FIRST CHALLENGE:

"In the promo, the Kuku Yalanji people welcome the contestants to their land, and set them up for their first challenge."


https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/reality-tv/watch-the-contestants-of-the-amazing-race-australia-battle-through-the-extreme-challenges/news-story/e498a4136faff997b0b661f062e7ac75

[ovalorange]

Thanks for setting this up, there needs to be a lot of discussion on this to sort out the route and timing of legs 

I think we had rumours of a rappel at Castle Hill, Townsville during filming. Should match up with that promo pic.

The shot of the mat should be at Leuralla Public Gardens Amphitheatre (Blue Mountains).

Given the highwire/exercise ball challenge location & teams included, I think it has to slot in the Daintree area. Possibly around Cape Tribulation given the mountains in the background?

Also given The Ghan is in the promos, I would have thought they'd come from Alice Springs into Coober Pedy? Dunno if there's time for that though. I also don't think we have any actual confirmation of WA at this point in time from the promos 

[tarflyonthewall]

Spoilers seem to suggest a pretty logical route actually, with only a couple of issues:

Leg 1: Daintree Rainforest, QLD (October 6)
Leg 2: Longreach/Winton, QLD (October 9)
Leg 3: Townsville, QLD (October 11)
Leg 4: Magnetic Island, QLD (October 14)
Leg 5: Cairns, QLD (October 16)
Leg 6: Unknown
Leg 7: Darwin, NT (arrival October 19, leg October 20)
Leg 8: Alice Springs, NT (October 21)
Leg 9: Coober Pedy, SA (date unknown but fits here)
Leg 10: Adelaide/Barossa Valley, SA (October 24)
Leg 11: Port Lincoln, SA (October 26)
Legs 12 and 13: Esperance and Kalgoorlie, WA (dates unknown but fit here; too far apart for the same leg)
Leg 14: Broome, WA (date unknown but fits here)
Leg 15: Hobart, TAS (November 2)
Leg 16: New Norfolk, TAS (November 4)
Leg 17: Unknown
Legs 18 and 19: Hunter Valley, NSW (November 8 and 9)
Leg 20: Broken Hill, NSW (November 12)
Leg 21: Canberra, ACT (November 14)

So then the only problems are the Gold Coast appearing in the promo and Beau rattling off Brisbane, Launceston, and half a dozen NSW locations we didn't know about in his video.

The state border situations due to Covid make it incredibly, incredibly unlikely they'd return to a state after leaving so what if Brisbane/Gold Coast is Leg 6, in between Cairns and Darwin, and the mystery gap between New Norfolk and the Hunter Valley is a leg that involves driving across Tasmania to Launceston airport, flying into Sydney, and then a long drive along the highways through the Blue Mountains, Bathurst, and Orange to Dubbo? Dubbo is also very near the Hunter Valley and makes perfect sense as a starting point for a visit to that region.

That'd fix EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM we have sorting out the route, unless more unexpected locations turn up?

[georgiapeach]

Nice job guys!

Beau says locations here:

https://www.facebook.com/AmazingRaceAU/posts/794689744453904

And this is the SECOND time he has said Sydney!!

I thought at first is was just post production but Could we have missed them there??   

[georgiapeach]

Also...where exactly is our start? Anyone found it on a map??

Maybe here? https://www.thalabeach.com.au/

Needs to be connected to the  the Kuku Yalanji people  and this one is.  " the Kuku Yalanji people welcome the contestants to their land, and set them up for their first challenge"

Also close to Cairns and we know that crew was there before start.   

[georgiapeach]

Could it be here? Need some Google mappers!

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Arakwal+National+Park/@-28.6588304,153.6224538,3a,75y/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipOBgrMB8RaLPYZptXEl6B_qNafoI-RdOxAep1I!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOBgrMB8RaLPYZptXEl6B_qNafoI-RdOxAep1I%3Dw203-h152-k-no!7i3968!8i2976!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x6b9062852d3e762b:0x40609b49043f2d0!2sByron+Bay+NSW+2481,+Australia!3b1!8m


https://www.google.com/maps/place/Arakwal+National+Park/@-28.6588304,153.6224538,13z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x6b9062852d3e762b:0x40609b49043f2d0!2sByron+Bay+NSW+2481,+Australia!3b1!8m2!3d-28.6473671!4d153.601977!3m4!1s0x6b90624e074a9b33:0xf0609b573ff3b90!8m2!3d-28.6450538!4d153.6301517

[BourkieBoy]

Also...where exactly is our start? Anyone found it on a map??

Maybe here? https://www.thalabeach.com.au/

Needs to be connected to the  the Kuku Yalanji people  and this one is.  " the Kuku Yalanji people welcome the contestants to their land, and set them up for their first challenge"

Also close to Cairns and we know that crew was there before start.   

The Starting Line has been confirmed to be at the Daintree National Park, which is 100 kilometres northwest of Cairns.

https://www.viacomcbsanz.com/news-and-insights/the-amazing-race-kicks-off-in-amazing-queensland/

[georgiapeach]

Also...where exactly is our start? Anyone found it on a map??

Maybe here? https://www.thalabeach.com.au/

Needs to be connected to the  the Kuku Yalanji people  and this one is.  " the Kuku Yalanji people welcome the contestants to their land, and set them up for their first challenge"

Also close to Cairns and we know that crew was there before start.   

The Starting Line has been confirmed to be at the Daintree National Park, which is 100 kilometres northwest of Cairns.

https://www.viacomcbsanz.com/news-and-insights/the-amazing-race-kicks-off-in-amazing-queensland/

Wee that may be a start but looking for the EXACT sand bar location ...  :

[ovalorange]

I mean that right there is a big hint when you mention the Kuku Yalanji people. Wiki gives us some good info:

Kuku Yalanji are now concentrated predominantly in Mossman and Wujal Wujal.

So the best guess is the Mossman River opening. Geographically it seems similar but I'm still struggling to get an exact match. Google maps seems a tad outdated and the tides don't match up exactly between the promo and map. There's also supposedly a boat ramp around there, but not sure if it's out of shot or now defunct and overgrown with trees.

[Brannockdevice]

For what it's worth, the Wikipedia article for this season says that there will be 16 legs, and some of the cities Beau mentioned in the above clip made the "Future Legs" section.

[tarflyonthewall]

16 legs is probably just a placeholder. At *minimum*, unless we've got a bunch of legs like the old "fly here, now fly here" finales, there's eighteen legs. And 21 is significantly more likely.

[georgiapeach]

16 legs is probably just a placeholder. At *minimum*, unless we've got a bunch of legs like the old "fly here, now fly here" finales, there's eighteen legs. And 21 is significantly more likely.

You are going to have to list them lol.

[georgiapeach]

I mean that right there is a big hint when you mention the Kuku Yalanji people. Wiki gives us some good info:

Kuku Yalanji are now concentrated predominantly in Mossman and Wujal Wujal.

So the best guess is the Mossman River opening. Geographically it seems similar but I'm still struggling to get an exact match. Google maps seems a tad outdated and the tides don't match up exactly between the promo and map. There's also supposedly a boat ramp around there, but not sure if it's out of shot or now defunct and overgrown with trees.

NICE ONE OVAL!!

[georgiapeach]

via oval

[tarflyonthewall]

16 legs is probably just a placeholder. At *minimum*, unless we've got a bunch of legs like the old "fly here, now fly here" finales, there's eighteen legs. And 21 is significantly more likely.

Already done upthread?

[georgiapeach]

16 legs is probably just a placeholder. At *minimum*, unless we've got a bunch of legs like the old "fly here, now fly here" finales, there's eighteen legs. And 21 is significantly more likely.

Already done upthread?

Why does Beau keep saying Sydney?? If he's including post production that makes sense but a leg ??

[tarflyonthewall]

Based on timing my guess is the New Norfolk leg is actually a "drive across Tasmania" leg (from Hobart in the south to Launceston in the north; New Norfolk is along the route and very near Hobart, so probably the first task of the leg), then teams fly from Launceston to Sydney at the start of the next leg. Maybe a task there before they get sent on what seems to be another long drive to Dubbo. I don't think we got a full leg there, just simply because it would have been spoiled.

Also, he's from Sydney, and not the brightest bulb in the shed at the best of times. Like if I was in that situation, I might not remember which obscure towns in Queensland or Western Australia got visited, but I'd absolutely remember doing a task in my hometown.

[ovalorange]

This is the synopsis for episode 2, seems to fit the Gold Coast leg we suspected:

Working alongside our Aussie lifeguards in red and yellow, the teams take on some of the toughest surf conditions and complete a rigorous series of challenges to receive their next clue.

Must be Daintree - Gold Coast - Winton to kick things off.

[tarflyonthewall]

Remember how last season was built so each week was in a different place because of the double-leg visits? This season looks like it might be doing that too.

Week 1 (Queensland):
Monday - Leg 1, Daintree Rainforest
Tuesday - Leg 2, Brisbane/Gold Coast
Wednesday - Leg 3, Longreach/Winton

Week 2 (more Queensland):
Monday - Leg 4, Townsville
Tuesday - Leg 5, Magnetic Island
Wednesday - Leg 6, Cairns

Week 3 (Northern Territory):
Monday - Leg 7, unknown location; the Tiwi Islands were hinted at before filming but we never got spoilers from there
Tuesday - Leg 8, Darwin
Wednesday - Leg 9, Kata Tjuta/Alice Springs

Week 4 (South Australia)
Monday - Leg 10, Coober Pedy
Tuesday - Leg 11, Adelaide/Barossa Valley
Wednesday - Leg 12, Port Lincoln

Week 5 (Western Australia)
Legs 13 to 15 - Esperance, Kalgoorlie, and Broome in some order. All confirmed but dates unknown; with six full days between the Port Lincoln and Hobart spoilers, my educated guess is buses or similar across the Great Australian Bight to Esperance on Day 1, the leg there on Day 2, Kalgoorlie the next day, a rest day on Day 4, Broome on Day 5, and then a full day of travel between Broome and Hobart, which would require connections.

Week 6 (Tasmania):
Monday - Leg 16, Hobart
Tuesday - Leg 17, New Norfolk
Wednesday - Leg 18, Launceston (uncertain but implied by Beau)

Week 7 (New South Wales):
Monday - Leg 19, unknown location (likely a long drive from Sydney to Dubbo, along the highways through the Blue Mountains, Bathurst, and Orange)
Tuesday - Leg 20, Mudgee/Bulgong
Wednesday - Leg 21, Newcastle (best access to the Hunter Valley for the Pit Stop)

Final week (more NSW/ACT finale):
Monday - Leg 22, Coffs Harbour (I thought "Woolgoolga" is Beau's video was just him stumbling over either "Bulgong" or "Kalgoorlie" but it's an actual town near this regional centre)
Tuesday - Leg 23, Broken Hill
Wednesday - Leg 24, Canberra

Spoiler dates line up. Travel options line up. Fits their established structure. The only query I have with this now is... why were the Townsville and Magnetic Island legs filmed three days apart when they're LITERALLY right next to each other? The only thing I can think of is maybe they paused the race to sort out the Tasmania legs we know got added during filming, except the reopening of Tasmania's borders was announced four days before filming even began.

[ianthebalance]

24 legs? That would make 12 NELs!!!

Edit: could we see a final 2 instead of a final 3? I really like the route though

[Gabby54]

At this point I’m honestly wondering if the first episode ends with a you’re still racing/double length leg and than at the end of the second half they tell them it’s a non-elimination.

[stunami]

I feel like 24 legs is too much...
16, maybe? 11 elimination legs, 4 NEL and the finale.

Maybe 7? With 5 NEL?

But that would be max.

[Bookworm]

I definitely think that the number of legs legs per state/territory fits the Australian manner of broadcast (i.e. 2-3 nights a week), similar to Survivor. However, I don't think it means every week will have 3 episodes (check me on this bc I have not been following the schedule), but rather that some provinces, like WA/NT fill out the two episodes per week model. I certainly expect to see quite a few self driving legs that combine multiple cities and solve some of the issues relating to Beau's list of cities (they wouldn't solve the timing issues, though).
We could probably see a weekly schedule like the following:
3 (QLD) - 3 (QLD) - 2 (NT) - 3 (SA) - 2 (WA) - 3/2 (TAS) - 2/3 (NSW) - 3 (Finale) for 21 legs? Maybe 20?
Again, I don't have the best memory of the exact timeline during filming, but I liked the point about legs mirroring anticipated broadcast schedules and wanted to elaborate on it.

[tarflyonthewall]

Here's a visual representation of the timeline we have. White legs are confirmed (I forgot about the early-morning Palm Island visit, which explains that gap), yellow are speculated, and gray are speculated days off, either as proper rest days or because teams are travelling between locations.

Travelling is going to be the big timewaster here. Regional Australia is really not very well connected at all at the best of times - like the best options to travel from Port Lincoln to Esperance normally are either a 15-hour drive through the desert or a full day of flying via both Adelaide AND Perth. And it's just going to be even worse here, especially with Melbourne out of play for getting in and out of Tasmania.

I'd have no problems believing some of the legs are combined except they're simply too far apart, both in timing and distance, for it to work. Like Esperance and Kalgoorlie are 500km apart with basically nothing in between, and Hobart and New Norfolk are super close together but the spoilers were days apart, and Bulgong could be combined with Dubbo except Beau listed like five major locations in the area that can only realistically fit there if there were two legs. This is the only way I can see to make everything work.

[Gabby54]

I'm a bit confused by this route. in terms of travel distance. For example, Daintree rainforest to Brisbane is telling me is 21 hours away.

However, Daintree to Brisbane is telling me only 21 minutes away.

I'm not from Australia so I don't know these landmarks at all.

[tarflyonthewall]

The Daintree Rainforest is in northern Queensland. It's about a two hour flight from Port Douglas (the closest major town) to Brisbane.

I tried doing the usual "line on a map" to explain the route but it just ended up a mess, so I've numbered the expected locations of each leg on the attached map. Basically after Leg 1, we're flying to the bottom of Queensland and working our way back up to the top, then travelling straight down the centre of the country, then going north through both Western Australia and Tasmania, then doing a weird zigzag around New South Wales before ending in Canberra.

[ovalorange]

Have we got anything for WA other than a glimpse of Lake Hillier in the promo? I've seen nothing otherwise.

I went back to the starting line as this particular shot below was bugging me. Turns out the Aboriginal ceremony was taken further up the coast (approx 2kms north). The shot appears to be flipped in the promo, as can be seen by Jordan being on the right of Violetta here, but on the left during their close-ups. Again the tides aren't exactly right, but the shape of the lake seems pretty similar.

Will be interesting to see if they're magically teleported to the start line during the show.

[georgiapeach]

Guys, I absoutely LOVE what you are all doing.

But PLEASE....remember this a ROUTE only thread.

Discussions on team placing should not be here.

Some people want to know the routes but NOT placements.

So please... NO PLACEMENTS HERE. NO TEAM DISCUSSION HERE.

Those can go in the Discussion of LIVE spoilers.

~~~~~~~~~~~


All discussions on teams have now been moved to the Discussion of Live Spoilers.


Great work everyone!

[georgiapeach]

Great MAP tarflyonthewall!! Thanks!

[Xoruz]

Do we have all this about Port Lincoln? At 4:48+

https://audioboom.com/posts/7784901-beau-ryan-the-amazing-race-australia

The Sleaford Mere outside of Lincoln National Park.
https://www.google.com/maps/@-34.849664,135.7543034,635m/data=!3m1!1e3



Looks like the Sleaford-Wanna Dunes.



Fun fact, this was pretty much the filming location from Nine's season of AU Survivor back in 2002.

[Brannockdevice]

How certain are we that Western Australia was even visited at all? I know we saw Beau in Broome, but did we ever actually see a team in WA? If not, we might be adding a few extra legs.

[tarflyonthewall]

24 legs?

Called it.

[Gabby54]

Has it been confirmed as 24 legs or is this just speculation?

[tarflyonthewall]

Confirmed by Beau himself yesterday.

[stunami]

Confirmed by Beau himself yesterday.

Ouh I didn't see, on twitter or on the show?

I feel like 24 is sooooo much... I don't understand how this will make it last with 14 teams.
I mean there's 11 EL, that would mean 13 NEL? Or maybe there are some Keep on racing, and one returnee leg like in Hamerotz

[Gabby54]

Yeah, I'm not sure how they're going to do this.

There very well could be a team returning at one point.

At this point it would literally be 12 non-elimination legs and 11 elimination legs

[LandonM170]

I was looking on Beau twitter, and I didn't see anything about him confirming there were 24 legs. Can I have a link to it?

[Gabby54]

So did Beau confirm 24 legs?

I'm confused

I don't see it anywhere if he did

[tarflyonthewall]

Confirmed in a Melbourne newspaper on Monday.

Also the producers gave an interview today where they also said they didn't go to Western Australia. When Beau said it in response to a question about the Perth bushfires I was prepared to believe he said it by accident because he's an idiot, but now it's looking like they actually didn't. So then if that's the case, and Beau's tweet from Broome was a misdirection to divert spoilers, (1) where is the pink lake we thought was the Pink Lake near Esperance, (2) where did they disappear to in the week between Port Lincoln and Hobart, and (3) why did Beau say Kalgoorlie when he was rattling off locations in that video?

[BourkieBoy]

Imagine there wasn't a global pandemic in 2020! These are the international destinations we would of seen in TAR Australia 5!

JUST getting this year’s season of The Amazing Race Australia off the ground was an epic challenge worthy of the show itself.

As borders shut and flights were grounded due to coronavirus, host Beau Ryan tells The BINGE Guide, it looked like the adventure series might need to scale back its ambitions.

“People started joking ‘what … are you going to do it around Cronulla?’ And in all honesty, the way borders were closing, it probably looked like that at one stage … just do 50 laps of Cronulla,” the former NRL star says, with a laugh.

But thanks to some extraordinary planning, and a few logistical nightmares, the Race’s production team were finally able to outrun a global pandemic and get the show on the road.

It wasn’t without a few false starts, as Ryan explains, but the determination and agility of Channel 10 and Eureka Productions to keep rolling with the punches finally saw the race get off the ground.

Of course, that involved locking down the entire cast and crew in a 14-day quarantine as soon as they all landed in Queensland – the starting line – from all parts of COVID-affected Australia.

While originally scheduled to film back in May last year – at the peak of the pandemic here – producers were forced to abandon plans to take filming on a global adventure, including through coronavirus-ravaged Europe, the US and Brazil.

For Ryan, a travel enthusiast, having his wings clipped was made even more difficult as he took on homeschooling responsibilities for eight-year-old daughter Remy and three-year-old son Jesse, with wife Kara.

While the tight-knit family pine for each other when Ryan is away filming for his blossoming media career, he admits his wife was more grateful than most to see the show get started and her husband to get out of the house.


JUST getting this year’s season of The Amazing Race Australia off the ground was an epic challenge worthy of the show itself.

As borders shut and flights were grounded due to coronavirus, host Beau Ryan tells The BINGE Guide, it looked like the adventure series might need to scale back its ambitions.

“People started joking ‘what … are you going to do it around Cronulla?’ And in all honesty, the way borders were closing, it probably looked like that at one stage … just do 50 laps of Cronulla,” the former NRL star says, with a laugh.

But thanks to some extraordinary planning, and a few logistical nightmares, the Race’s production team were finally able to outrun a global pandemic and get the show on the road.

It wasn’t without a few false starts, as Ryan explains, but the determination and agility of Channel 10 and Eureka Productions to keep rolling with the punches finally saw the race get off the ground.

Of course, that involved locking down the entire cast and crew in a 14-day quarantine as soon as they all landed in Queensland – the starting line – from all parts of COVID-affected Australia.

Beau Ryan hosts reality series The Amazing Race Australia.
Beau Ryan hosts reality series The Amazing Race Australia.
While originally scheduled to film back in May last year – at the peak of the pandemic here – producers were forced to abandon plans to take filming on a global adventure, including through coronavirus-ravaged Europe, the US and Brazil.

For Ryan, a travel enthusiast, having his wings clipped was made even more difficult as he took on homeschooling responsibilities for eight-year-old daughter Remy and three-year-old son Jesse, with wife Kara.

While the tight-knit family pine for each other when Ryan is away filming for his blossoming media career, he admits his wife was more grateful than most to see the show get started and her husband to get out of the house.

“My wife says it’s much easier when I’m not there because I sort of become another kid she has to look after,” he admits, “so she ran things really smoothly when I was away.”

Still, his absence makes the heart grow fonder.

“The first month away was hard, I’m not going to lie, because you can’t really see the light at the start,” the doting father of two explains.

“But just being away with a large group of people … everyone was missing their families, or their partners and loved ones at home,” he says adding, “when you’re all working together, you go in the trenches together and you get a lot of strength from that.”

The COVID protocols meant Ryan began the latest season keeping his distance from contestants, resisting the urge to celebrate with each team of two as they made their way from one checkpoint to the next.

“I remember the first few teams checked in and I looked at the producers and said ‘do I elbow here? or do I hug? what do I do?’ By the third team, it went from the elbow, to a handshake, to a hug and by the end, it was group hugs all round,” he laughs.

We’d both been tested, so they didn’t have it and I didn’t either so it was fine.”

The scheduling upheaval meant some of the teams had to be recast before filming begin last September, as some contestants found themselves unable to compete due to work or family commitments.

On the upside, his experience with season one gave Ryan the confidence to stand tall in the role as host this time around.

“I’ve been in a lot of high pressure situations, in both sport and live TV and live radio, but I felt last year when we were doing the show a lot of us didn’t know what we were doing,” he admits.

“Channel 10 and Eureka were great, they just gave me the freedom to be me. We obviously have a structure of the show that they allowed me to say what I wanted and put it in my words and my terminology. But this year I felt so much more comfortable.”

“And it was good for all the teams,” he says, “as they only knew me as the host of the show.”

When restrictions lifted, the show was able to skip from one state to another without quarantining multiple times – opening them all up to the majesty of our own country.

For Ryan, it was an eye-opening gift.

“I’ve always been a Queensland guy,” he admits. “My wife’s from up there and we’ve got friends and family there so we holiday there a lot and I knew it was going to be great. But the middle of Australia, I didn’t realise was that good and, you know, full of wild animals. I think we do take it for granted as Aussies. We don’t really know much about it. We see the pictures, but until you get to Alice Springs and see all that stuff first hand, it made me realise just how lucky we are.”

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/television/tv-favourite-beau-ryan-reveals-how-the-amazing-race-outpaced-the-pandemic/news-story/c684f75a51f975adbeab09f6a4117898?fbclid=IwAR2uRz5izYLsfyEgb6oi_KSqpb8hsdcrcDxv-ANuSWjMt4poR6OjmNMl2zE

[stunami]

Is it possible Townsville/Palm Island/Magnetic Island  is all one leg?

There was sighting of Fire eating/blowing at Magnetic Island (for what would be leg 5) but we did see it in the preview for next episode...


Also, I think Sydney is our finale and we missed it. Because we didn't even have Sydney, now Beau confirmed it once or twice and even said it ended in Sydney... Maybe Canberra  is Final 4 or Final 3 part 1

[tarflyonthewall]

Palm Island yes, Magnetic Island no. Townsville was late night and Palm Island very early morning the next day, so probably those two are another overnight leg. But the Magnetic Island spoilers were three days after the Townsville spoilers.

[stunami]

Palm Island yes, Magnetic Island no. Townsville was late night and Palm Island very early morning the next day, so probably those two are another overnight leg. But the Magnetic Island spoilers were three days after the Townsville spoilers.

I agree with you about the timing,  but this was posted about Picnic Bay (On Magnetic Island):

VIA FB for Picnic Bay

"no idea how long they are here... we were down the other end of Picnic Bay with a school group... lots of cameramen and action on the old jetty...and fire eating!!!"

And we clearly saw in the trailer fire eating
Unless that part of the preview was for episode 5, but then why put it at the end of episode 3??

EDIT:
Ok so I just watched the preview again and Beau say: Coming up on Amazing Race Australia, we are off for a week of island hoping.
SO I guess the preview is for all 3 episodes? Maybe the medic-vac is not on episode 4, but 5 or 6?

[Brannockdevice]

Part of me is wondering if the production team is just making up a bunch of stuff to mess with us. For example, the (possibly fake) post of Beau in Broome to make us think teams had been to Western Australia. Plus, that video of Beau naming off a bunch of Australian cities - could he have named a few that they really hadn't visited to make us think there were more legs? After all, the Facebook video is literally called "Beau Knows Aussie Towns" - he could really just be naming them on the spot. Places like Launceston, Kalgoorlie and the whole host of NSW towns he names might be fake.

I just have a really hard time believing that there are really going to be 24 legs. 

[mjharmstone]

Beau did an interview to promote the season where he said it's 24 episodes.

[ianthebalance]

Episodes doesn’t necessarily equal legs

[mjharmstone]

Travelling in style, the teams arrive in Coober Pedy via the legendary train expedition The Ghan, and are confronted by a huge surprise that will change the game.

A detour has the teams explore the historic German town of Hahndorf as they must choose between slap or snag in a hilarious Bavarian bonanza.

[mjharmstone]

The teams must brave the freezing cold water in an ambitious challenge that sees them work alongside research scientists who are studying the endangered Australian sea lion.

[mjharmstone]

In an epic challenge of brains versus brawn, a detour divides the teams as they are faced with a challenge that tests their physical, mental and tactical skills in order to receive their next clue.

The teams must complete a painstakingly meticulous task in order to receive their next clue in the race.

[stunami]

Funny how they don't say any location for ep 13/14.
I wonder if it will be Western Australia or NSW part 1.

[mjharmstone]

14 could be the T-Junction leg, hence the REALLY vague description. Either an intruder or an NEL on Sunday would mean 8 teams left for Leg 14.

[mjharmstone]

The teams are faced with completing a puzzling game of cat-and-mouse as they must follow the map that will unlock the key towards the next pit stop of the race.

[tarflyonthewall]

So I've worked out the next Pit Stop from the preview (thanks for bragging about a "top secret location" while also showing Beau standing in front of a nice big "Welcome to Mungalla" sign).

Mungalla Station is a Wild West-themed tourist farm outside Townsville (which also has a major Royal Australian Army base), because we've clearly been away from Queensland for too long.

[Xoruz]

So that explains the random sighting of teams flying to Brisbane after Port Lincoln.

Also the "secret location" preview showed the bodybuilders getting stuck on the bottom of Castle Hill.

[gamerfan09]

And Leg 14 is in Brisbane apparently.

Source: https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/coast-businesses-on-show-in-amazing-race-episode/4202886/

[Bookworm]

And Leg 14 is in Brisbane apparently.

Source: https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/coast-businesses-on-show-in-amazing-race-episode/4202886/

We've reached TAR Canada 7 levels of crisscrossing

[mjharmstone]

Tasmania is confirmed for next week.

For their first challenge, the teams make their way to Australia's first legal casino and take a gamble at building an epic house of cards that must be five storeys high.

(It's the Wrest Point Hotel Casino)

[tarflyonthewall]

Sunshine Coast tomorrow night. Someone on Facebook thought the cuckoo place in the preview was one of two locations, one north of Brisbane and one south of Brisbane, and working from that information I've confirmed that the big mountain we also see in the preview is Mount Ngungun near Beerwah, which is more famous as being the location of Steve Irwin's old zoo.

[mjharmstone]

At the impressive Strathgordon Dam, the teams must embrace their inner athlete and dunk a basketball into an oversized hoop on the dam wall in order to receive their next clue in the race.

That throws a spanner into the works...

[tarflyonthewall]

Starting in Hobart, the teams head back in time at the historic town of Ross as they must compete in a gruelling challenge of strength and stamina while shackled and dressed as convicts.

So it's a trio of episodes with locations used by the first season of The Mole - Wrest Point Casino, the Gordon Dam, and Ross all had challenges.

The New Norfolk sighting was two days after the Hobart sighting, so my guess is Leg 16 is fully in Hobart, Leg 17 is a driving leg that goes past Gordon Dam and ends in the Strahan area, and they're moved back to Hobart during the Pit Stop for Leg 18 to pass through New Norfolk and Ross on the way to Launceston. But even then I still can't make Beau saying Cradle Mountain was visited work.

[tarflyonthewall]

In a series of quirky challenges, the teams' patience is tested as completing the peculiar tasks is the only way to reach their next clues in the race.

A final nail-bitting [sic] Road Block forces the teams to walk across a suspended ladder bridge that hangs 80m off the ground and into the abyss of the mountains.

In their first challenge, the teams are locked up in the Old Dubbo Gaol. To receive their next clue, they must plan the ultimate prison break and evade the ever-vigilant guards.

[mjharmstone]

Thanks to articles, we know this week's three locations are Hobart/Ross, Newcastle & Blue Mountains National Park.

As tarflyonthewall posted, next week begins with Dubbo.

An ultimate Aussie challenge is the only thing standing in the teams' way, as they all must hilariously do an epic shoey out of a women's high-heeled boot in the race to the next Pit Stop.

[mjharmstone]

To add to this, if we're assuming Broken Hill is accurate, that can only be Leg 23 now, meaning Sydney was Beau misspeaking or misleading.

[stunami]

To add to this, if we're assuming Broken Hill is accurate, that can only be Leg 23 now, meaning Sydney was Beau misspeaking or misleading.

Dobbo is leg 21! (It was supose to be this week but because of the delay it will be next week)
Which would mean Broken Hill be leg 22

But I feel like we have too many NSW cities listed by Beau still no visited to have a full Sydney leg.. I'm soo confused lol unless almost all of the NSW legs are full on self driving and visit lots of different cities.

I guess we will know this Tuesday, if they don't do a task in Sydney before going to Blue Mountain, then my guess is that the finale is Sydney.

[mjharmstone]

It all depends on how much you trust Beau as a reliable narrator and that video actually being location spoilers. He said Launceston which wasn't visited in the Tasmania legs for example.

We don't have a location confirmed for Leg 22 yet, but Broken Hill was the day before Canberra, so unless the Leg 23 description (due in the next couple of minutes) highlights Canberra or talks about typewriters, Sydney is nonsense.

[gamerfan09]

From the Telstra video:

[stunami]

Is this for next episode?

[stunami]

It all depends on how much you trust Beau as a reliable narrator and that video actually being location spoilers. He said Launceston which wasn't visited in the Tasmania legs for example.

We don't have a location confirmed for Leg 22 yet, but Broken Hill was the day before Canberra, so unless the Leg 23 description (due in the next couple of minutes) highlights Canberra or talks about typewriters, Sydney is nonsense.

Lauceston was the pitstop for this leg of the race! (Leg 18)

[mjharmstone]

It all depends on how much you trust Beau as a reliable narrator and that video actually being location spoilers. He said Launceston which wasn't visited in the Tasmania legs for example.

We don't have a location confirmed for Leg 22 yet, but Broken Hill was the day before Canberra, so unless the Leg 23 description (due in the next couple of minutes) highlights Canberra or talks about typewriters, Sydney is nonsense.

Lauceston was the pitstop for this leg of the race! (Leg 18)

So it was! Didn't spot that. There's still a couple of towns he mentioned that can't plausibly be in the route though. Those Sydney interviews could have been post-Race - there's no sightings of anyone racing through Sydney and I highly doubt we'd get sightings from somewhere like Winton and not Sydney.

[stunami]

It all depends on how much you trust Beau as a reliable narrator and that video actually being location spoilers. He said Launceston which wasn't visited in the Tasmania legs for example.

We don't have a location confirmed for Leg 22 yet, but Broken Hill was the day before Canberra, so unless the Leg 23 description (due in the next couple of minutes) highlights Canberra or talks about typewriters, Sydney is nonsense.

Lauceston was the pitstop for this leg of the race! (Leg 18)

So it was! Didn't spot that. There's still a couple of towns he mentioned that can't plausibly be in the route though. Those Sydney interviews could have been post-Race - there's no sightings of anyone racing through Sydney and I highly doubt we'd get sightings from somewhere like Winton and not Sydney.

I agree with you 100%, but we didn't get any sighting from Brisbane, and they went downtown, so we can never be 100% sure.

But time wise, it wouldn't make sense. (But nothing makes sense in this edition lol)
My guess is that maybe teams have one clue/task in Sydney before the Newcastle or blue Mountains leg, so they counted Sydney as part of the list.

[Xoruz]

My guess is that maybe teams have one clue/task in Sydney before the Newcastle or blue Mountains leg, so they counted Sydney as part of the list.

Leigh's standing next to Pit Stop flags in gamerfan09's photo.

[stunami]

Ouhhh ok... so what does it mean lol Sydney is the finale or not?

[mjharmstone]

If it's the Finish Line or Pit Stop, we're looking at Government House. It's about the right area if my quick Google-fu is right.

[mjharmstone]

In the race to the next Pit Stop, the teams need to muster the courage and embrace their inner performer as they hit the stage singing, dancing, and even completing one hell of a Hollywood...

This listing has disappeared now but as tarflyonthewall confirmed for me, Broken Hill was the setting of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, so it would make sense. Means four things:
1) Broken Hill is Leg 23.
2) Chris & Aleisha are fourth.
3) Canberra is the finale.
4) They're going to do a drag challenge, aren't they?...

[tarflyonthewall]

I think the implication is it's going to have a Detour where one option is a "singing, dancing" musical number inspired by Priscilla and the other option is "one hell of a Hollywood" stunt inspired by Mad Max 2. Both films were made in the area.

But it also then confirms Broken Hill as Leg 23 and Canberra as Leg 24.

[stunami]

Then Sydney would be leg 22!

[mjharmstone]

Sydney at best will be a Pit Stop at this rate. They could have just set up those flags for interviews.

[mjharmstone]

In the final leg, the teams travel from Sydney, to Canberra, and then to up to the Snowy Mountains for the epic race to the finish line.

[Neobie]

Will be interesting to see if they're magically teleported to the start line during the show.

Revisiting this after the show has aired. Looks like the start was at Newell Beach after all, the satellite imagery on Google dates back to 2015, and you'd need to toggle the view on Google Earth to see the latest, which fits much better with what was seen on the show.

Can anyone figure out where Ned's place was in Episode 8? There was an aerial view over Whittaker Rd just south of Lough Erin, and the distance seems to match the scale of the map they were given (we never get to see that important last fold), but I can't find a house that matches.

[Neobie]

Ah, I think it's the same place with the aerial view, just that both the satellite imagery and Google Street View are a little outdated!
The fencing may have changed and the young trees have grown quite a bit, but you can match up the mature trees and the power lines across the street. In the latest Google Earth imagery (2017) you can see also see the land being cleared to build the two buildings for Ned's place.

(You might need to log in to see the attached picture.)

[georgiapeach]

love this! Thanks guys!