Treasure Hunting!

I just found out that this is only the 99th post.. instead of the last last post that i added.

Anyway, Treasure Hunting! Joined the treasure hunt that Nottingham Malaysian Society organised. The best thing is.. we don't have to pay a cent. And we got a free Kangaroo pass (3 pounds) which allows us to travel on any bus, train or tram for us to get around the whole of Nottingham. We had to solve riddles to find out our destinations. Each team consisted of 4 people and there were 16 teams altogether.

The event was divided into 3 stages: stage 1 was within the University Park campus, stage 2 and stage 3 was in and around Nottingham City.

The stage 1 questions were a bit tough. We spent quite some time in the campus trying to figure out what the answers were to the riddles. Lots of time was spent running around the uni and this wasn't an easy task as the uni isn't exactly on flat ground. It was exhausting. By the time we completed stage 1, we seemed to be the last few teams to leave the campus for the next stage where we had to meet someone in the City centre for our next set of riddles.

Stage 2 was the fun part. We decided to stop by our trusty Nottingham Tourism Centre to ask for directions and to help us find the answers to the riddles. Seemed like everyone else had the same thought as we bumped into other teams who rushed towards the information counter. It was funny to watch the lady giving the same information several times.

Our first stop: The Arboretum. I posted photos of the Arboretum before here in a slide show and it was easy to recognise the place from the photo clues that were given to us in stage 1. Thus, we boarded the tram and went off to the arboretum. The clue we got at that place led us to the Forest Recreation grounds where we needed to find the acorn tree in the photo below, and find out who planted it. We got a few wrong directions from the people we asked but eventually got one helpful guy to tell us where the Forest Lodge is, as the tree was located near it.

Next was the Green's Windmill and Science Centre. It came as a surprise to us that Nottingham actually has a windmill! And a working windmill!

Inside the science centre.
Next was the Nottingham Forest Football Club at the Stadium. It was red. Their slogan: There.. Now.. Forever Forest!
We were then told to explore along the River Trent to find a match to the photo of emblem that we were given. We were also told to find out how high was the River Trent in Feb 1946. The latter answer we got from a wall at the river side.

The River Trent!
The emblem was found on the War Memorial. Which is a beautiful place inside. Should've spent a bit more time exploring inside.

On to the next stage. First was a stop at the City of Caves located at the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre. When we got there, we did not see anyone. The guy who was supposed to be there disappeared for a toilet break as he wasn't expecting us to be so early!

What's a Treasure Hunt without making a pit stop at the Nottingham Castle? This was where most of us got stumped at the riddle that was given. "Grab Low & Spare Fifty Clues" was the phrase that we had to unscramble and find the place. (The place was called Sparrow Bagley & Sutcliffe which was an estate agency)Then a trip to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem which is purported to be England's Oldest Pub where the answer to the riddle was the signpost.

Next: The Nottingham Playhouse where we visited the Sky Mirror. I have seen this mirror several times now and I still don't know why it is famous. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder i guess. Forgot to take a photo of it.

Last was the general Cemetery. Did not enter into cemetery as we got on the same bus as the guy who was meeting us there and we got our clue as soon as we got down the bus. I wanted to look at the interior but the rest of the group wanted to press on and return to the atrium of Portland Building back in Uni.

We were the first to reach back to uni but we stayed around the lake to figure out the answer to the riddle that was given to us in the first stage, therefore we were the 2nd team to arrive back at the atrium. We also were given 3 bonus riddles for us to bring back 3 items: a 20p coin, a shoelace and a Kangaroo pass. After a 3 hour wait at the atrium for the hunt to end and the results to be revealed, we got 2nd place (cuz we got the 20p coin wrong and put in a 50p instead)! Yay!!
It was altogether a very fun and fulfilling day, albeit a tiring one. We spent a lot of time running and rushing after buses. Looking back, i supposed we didn't really need to rush around and could actually spend a bit of time at each place appreciating the beauty of nature.

I actually got to know Nottingham better now, and all for free. If i didn't join this, I wouldn't have known about these places that are quite beautiful. I would definitely want to go to these places again and spend more time exploring. Nottingham's not so boring after all!

Want to end the post with a bit of a complaint. One of my teammates was a bit annoying. She was loud and a bit overbearing at times. She also took off with my camera without telling me. Imagine that: i only knew her for one day and she takes off with my camera! All the photos she took were blur also. Wanna delete them as soon as I pass it on to her!