This week at Macquarie Island: 17 August 2018

Last Sunday we were fortunate enough to have a sunny day with low winds and slight seas — a rarity here on Macca! So we launched the boats to continue resupplying the huts down island.

Jez and Angus were pretty happy about that, as they were both heading down island that day too, and they both got to hitchhike down with us on the boats, instead of walking all that way!

We ducked in to Green Gorge first to drop off some equipment and bid cheerio to Jez for a month.

Then we headed down to Waterfall Bay to drop off the full supply of food for the year. We unloaded the gear at the beach, but due to a wee bit of swell the boat team couldn’t stick around long to help carry it to the hut, which is about 500 metres from the beach landing. Fortunately, Angus was staying at that hut and managed to cart the whole load up himself.

He had originally been grateful to get a ride down on the boat to save him hiking there… but after he spent a whole afternoon carrying ALL the supplies solo with wet feet, the rest of us at station are now far more grateful to him for his efforts!

These past few weeks Macquarie Island has been warming up for the annual intra-continental darts competition by holding their own station darts competition. An intense and focused competition of both a singles darts draw and a doubles darts draw playing the illustrious game of ‘Shang’.

So there it was, after some hits and a few misses in the early rounds last Saturday saw the culmination of both the finals in singles and doubles played before a keen station audience. The curtain raiser for the bigger event was the singles final, being played by Greg and Tim with a best out of three game format. Both players were a touch nervous given the occasion with some early stray throws by both. It soon became neck and neck though as the players settled in, the game was close but Tim was able to sneak in with a win for game 1. The second match saw a similar pattern with both players throwing some nice arrows, in particular Greg with ‘Champagne Darts’ Shang that earned him a handy 100 points and a bed. This made things very tight. Was there going to be third game decider? Unfortunately not as Tim was able to hold on and take out the singles darts title with a win in the second game.

After a short drinks break and a breakdown discussion of the singles final. It was time for the main event the doubles darts final. This was to be played out by Chris and Pete against Rich and Greg (Greg had a busy afternoon). Both teams proving too good for the rest as they met in the final to also play a best of three game format.

With a handy start it was team P&C scoring closest to bull and first blood on the board. Team R&G making up for not starting first with a tidy close out of bulls first up.

So the arm wrestle continued for the rest of the game, of which it was a very close affair, with tactics and strategy coming out to play teams choosing whether to close out numbers or score the points.

Team R&G though prevailed with some sharp darts and big points to take out the first game. The second match had the crowd buzzing, with Team P&C getting the upper hand with some finely pointed throws, Pete and Chris were showing good composure and sharp eyes to storm home and take the second match. This resulted in a winner take all third match decider. It was on, the excitement at the bar was sizzling. The crowd weren’t disappointed at all, the third match had it all, twists and turns, points over closing out, scoring on bulls to peg back a 78 point lead. Bringing the match to the ultimate finish of one dart from either team to take the Doubles title. Pheww! It was intense indeed.

So it was with Greg unlucky in the singles but victorious in the doubles as he landed the killer dart and cemented Team R&G’s victory over Pete and Chris in the final match to take out the Macquarie Island Doubles Darts Championship for 2018.

Congratulations to both teams for making the final and big congratulations to Rich and Greg for taking out the title well done.

Now the Island is looking forward to playing against the continental stations in the upcoming tournament, it is going to be a hoot.