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As you can
see from the map Oturehua is in the heartland of Central Otago.
The reason this site was chosen was because of the climate extremes. The site is as close as we could get to Ophir, which holds the record for both cold and heat for New Zealand. It can get as cold as Minus 10OC to Minus20OC. Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey, hence the name. (A brass monkey, in the days of sailing ships was a tray on which cannon balls were piled. In very cold weather, the brass tray shrunk faster than the iron cannonballs and so the pyramid of balls collapsed.) While we cannot guarantee it, it does snow quite often over the weekend. this makes the challenge even greater. The other reason for this location is the help we get from the Oturehua Winter Sports club people.They provide the food for the rally and help in many other ways. |
