The Office Treasure Hunt with team TIP TOP

Team Tip Top hunts down the Treasure ...

The Sports & Social Club at work set a date for their next activity a Treasure Hunt to be held on a Saturday afternoon ... the event was announced during the previous event the Quiz night of which I formed part of the winning team together with the other colleagues, Gavin, Etienne and Christina.  During the Quiz night we decided that we’d all form part of the same team during the Treasure Hunt - closer to the date Christina dropped out and Etienne and Gavin's fianceé's signed on that made us a full team of 5 persons!  I offered that we could use my car which could accommodate 6 passengers comfortable.

Tip Top Team Members

Myself - The driver

Gavin Brewes  The spreadsheet guy








Danni Vella The cup cake girl but today she was the blackberry girl

The logic guy Etienne Vella

The resourceful girl Antonella Borg

During the week before Etienne circulated a short list of must haves which we would need to take along with us, the list included; 

• Two cameras
• Map
• GPS
• Get contact numbers of other people who might be able to assist us remotely
• Internet access from mobile or laptop. (preferably a laptop as well)
• A couple of biros/pencils and some papers
• And finally… our BRAINS :)

At 13:30 I made my way to the meeting point, I met with Gavin who was waiting for Danni but had brought along a couple of bags of crisps, sandwiches and soft drinks, Danni arrived soon after and following that Etienne and Antonella joined us - we agreed on a strategy – To Win this second event of the year !!!  

The Committee members handed us a bag of treats, crisps and water - we wouldn't be facing any dehydration problems !!!

As driver of the team I was summoned with the other drivers to have the rules and instructions explained! General rules about safety on the roads as well as the regulations regarding the Treasure Hunt in which it was explained that we had 3 hours to complete the event with the first team starting at 14:40 and ending at 17:40 and all the teams would be leaving at 30 minutes intervals, each team was assigned a different route then the others which was good … We were instructed to pick an envelope which would have the necessary forms and two copies of the Hand Book one for rough work and one would be the original we would be handing in at the end of the event.  I picked an envelope at random and it was marked “1” which meant that my team was going to start first in a matter of minutes.

May the best team win 

I ran to my car envelope in hand and everyone else took their seats – we filled in the forms, synchronized our watches and checked the Rule Book, while I relayed all the info I had obtained from the Marshall with regards to the rules and regulations.

While waiting to receive the start signal, we turned to the first location page.

Location
ONE

The code was easily deciphered by Etienne & Gavin and I was told to drive towards Rabat Malta a large town in the North of the Island – this is good – I’m familiar with the North … I’m feeling confident … the next code reveled that we had to discover where “is-Serkin tal-Pastizzi” was located and take a photograph of the sign – a typical tea & coffee bar in the heart of the town where old people meet at the crack of dawn for some fresh brewed tea and traditionally pastizzi – the place was familiar with most of us in the car – a quick snapshot of the facade of the bar from the car and off to the next place – where we used the help of a very good friend of mine Vicky who is a licensed tourist guide, who helped us understand where the nobles of the area held their social gatherings – Casino Notabile -  another photo of the location this time we all had to be in the picture so it couldn’t be a drive by.  I parked in the closest spot I found (on the Zebra Crossing) raced out of the car, found a couple of tourist and asked them to take a photo of us – they were a bit puzzled at these five people who are totally out of breath taking a picture in front of a derelict building – until someone told them we were on a treasure hunt!!!

Striking a pose in front of Casino Notabile

Location
TWO

With location one complete the guys where trying to decipher the next location – this one wasn’t as simple and I decided to park on the pavement because driving away from Rabat didn’t make sense – Antonella who’s Etienne’s girlfriend came up with the answer The Silent City Mdina.  Which meant a U turn on a busy junction for me and towards Rabat again to find a parking space since Mdina is a car free city .... this one was going to be a race on foot !!!

Map of Mdina

Chocolate Cake 1 million calories/slice

We jogged to the famous Tea and Cake house Fontanella to collect a chocolate smudged napkin with the logo of the Café and then started to ponder on where Lorenzo Gafa went to mass in the 17^th Century!!!  We headed to the bastions that surround this lovely city to check out which towns could be easily viewed from the walls and ran to Mesquita Square to take a group photo with the well where a “Don” was attached by mosquitos and used the well water to relieve the pain.

Some Giant Mosquitos can still be seen roaming around the square

In the mean time there was a scavenger hunt for a number of items which we had to collect each item was worth between 3 and 15 points – total items 20!!! And these included;

•        Mushroom
•         Fanta Metal Crown
•         60 year old male’s ID Card
•         Original Coca Cola Can
•         Blue Toy
•         Torn Sock
•         An Extra Long Matchbox
•         Chinese Chop Sticks
•         Black Fishnet Tights
•         Sea Shell
•         Football T-Shirt
•         Waltdisney Character
•         Red Plastic Peg
•         Shower Cap
•         Feather
•         Shoe Sole
•         Original Barbie Doll
•         Safety Shoe
•         An Ice Watch
•         Take a group photo with the theme “power of believing”

A view of Dingli

Location
THREE

Whist driving to location three which was Dingli Cliffs we started sorting between ourselves who could provide the items on the list, I had a number of things at home, Antonella could provide some of the other items as well and we were left with the Matchsticks, the Ice Watch, the Coke can, the chop sticks, the ID Card and the Fanta top …. We had to make a lot of calls to try and source the missing items …. Got to Dingli and driving along the bumpy and rugged stretch of road adjacent to the cliffs we came across the Jurassic Monsters golf location which was the Radar Station and its huge white ball like structure, but we had to keep on driving to find the chapel, identify the colour of the door and take a photo of the group – we get to the chapel and raced towards it to find a group of boys attending the tiny church which was set up for the Easter festivities – taking a photo of the group  wasn’t at all difficult we surely didn’t lack volunteers – back to the car and stop briefly near the Radar Station to snap a picture and go look for Francis Ebejer who was a prominent dramatist that lived in Dingli between 1925 and 1993 – apparently he can be found reading a book – driving like a mad woman I got on main road in Dingli a tarmacked road at last ..... we found a small monument with Mr. Ebejer comfortably reading a book – screamed at a young lady across the street who was waiting for the bus to take a quick group photo.

Phew 3 locations down and over one hour passed – we are still missing some of the items on the scavenger hunt but Etienne is doing his utmost by contacting boys from the football nursery he coaches who might have an Ice Watch.

Location
FOUR

Location four Manikata where Architect Richard England was responsible for the design of the Church in this small town ...

 

Back the way we came from Antonella managed to find a friend who lives in Zebbieh who could lend us her dad’s safety shoes and some other items off the list – while we are at it might as well stop at a vegetable stall and pick up ONE MUSHROOM!!

Back on the route to Manikata – we had to count a number of concrete slabs that were adjacent to the church.  Other teams where on the same location and the counting proved pretty confusing to say the least.


Last but not least we had to take a photo with the lonely teddy bear … the only place I could think of was the small playing field and that’s where we found the teddy bear swing!  We asked another tourist to take a quick photo. 

For the record ... I'm sitting on the teddy bear ....

Location
FIVE

Location five Golden Sands where the Roman Baths can be found surrounded by 29 columns!!!  
Another photo and off to my apartment to pick up a number of items off the scavenger list and use the loo facilities ….aaaaa relief .... at last !!!  

Gav, Antonella & Danni posing with the sign at the Roman Baths

Location
SIX

Locations six Mosta but before we get to Mosta we have to stop in two different towns in Naxxar where Etienne’s football student was waiting with Ice Watch and Coke Can and where Vanessa was waiting on another corner with Chop Sticks in hand … on the way to Mosta with time running out quickly we had to take a split decision proceed to Mosta and omit a large number of items from the list or go to the next town Birkirkara – Antonella’s home town and pick up a bag of goodies ????!?!?!?! at the roundabout the team decided on Birkirkara so I started on that route stopping once or twice to ask random men who looked like they could be 60 if they had their ID and if they where truly 60 – no luck neither was 60 :( off to meet Antonella’s mum …. Time is running out and we still had the whole of Mosta to drive around ….

Mosta here we come … parking close to the church is nearly impossible until I spot another team leaving a space and I drove wrong way to get to it. I did not realize that my team mates went to the front of the church – the bomb we needed to take a photo of was at the back - this is not some chapel its a huge dome church!!! We met with another team who seemed to be making a total mess of the Rocky and his divine location clue …. We got inside the church which was packed with parishioners attending Saturday night Mass …. Five of us rushed through the crowded church some more discrete than others - to get to the back and take a photo with a world war two bomb that never exploded when it landed in the church 70 years ago!  Back outside through the back door we rushed to the front of the church to try and get the Rocky clue – I enlisted the help of three novice priests who where good at explaining what all the saints on the church parvis where patrons of but could not really hope us with our clue ...well think of Rocky and Sylvester Stallone .....   

Terrible Photo but we are all in & the bomb is there too !!!

Our Group photo in front of St Sylvester Church

.....Vanessa came to the rescue one more time with the Church of St Sylvester which was on our way to the finish line….quick group photo and the final scavenger item the Power of Believing shot …we didn’t give this one too much thought but decided to climb on one another and pretend we where the office’s logo the Centaur pointing a bow upwards …. it turned out that I was the only one that did the climbing .... on poor Gavin ... Not the most original shot I must admit ….

Our final scavenger item - a group photo showing the Power of Believing hmmmmm !!!! 

We got to the meeting place and handed in our handbook and scavenger bag at exactly 17:38:20 our clock off time was 17:40:00......

Waiting around having a beer or two or three while the Marshall and Committee members gathered all the booklets, check the scavenger bags and counted the points over and over and over .... eventually the winners where about to be announced .... Nail Biting time ... was it going to be a tie just like the Quiz night where we had to do another round of questions to break the tie ... what will be the tie breaker in the treasure hunt???  Not another location ... Please I cant drive any more .... it was announced that there was only one winner .... phew ... the third and second place winners were announced while our team huddled up in anticipation ... and the winners are Tip Top Team 1 - we're off to Sicily .... 


For the record had there been a tie the challenge would have been to change the spare wheel of the car .... which isn't that straight forward when you have a six seater mpv!


Team Tip Top will reconvene their meeting place at Valletta Harbour to get the Catamaran Ferry to Sicily for the day !!!