Eric Dalgliesh

Catapult

Eric Dalgliesh
May 25, 2008

Lately I've been catching the train home a lot, and I was getting sick of walking to the station because I think it's too far away. I've learnt of a shortcut which I've found to be much faster (about 5 minutes) as it cuts out on traffic lights and the distance you have to travel.

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Original Route


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Shortcut Route


The shortcut goes past the Shelbourne Hotel, across Kent St (which has a lot of breaks in traffic), and through an underground arcade directly to the middle of the station.


A Shorter Shortcut

I think that even this route is a little too far and that travel could be sped up quite a bit by using a catapult. Here is the route which would be taken in such a case:

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Catapult Route


The proposed route goes through a number of buildings (433 Kent Street or 1 Market Street) and punches through the ceiling of Town Hall Station. Additionally a high degree of precision is required so that people land at the correct location. Therefore we will be using a trebuchet for this endeavour.


Warning: Anyone who uses this method of transportation will need at least 1 ring, a shield, or sparkle power; the landing could be a bit rough and will otherwise cause you to lose 1 life.


Alternative methods have been proposed including Mario-style green pipes, travel via Tardis, and using a gigantic particle accelerator such as the LHC.


On a more serious note, for those who travel from this general region (corner of Sussex and Market) to Wynyard Station, there is an underground tunnel (which I've never used) near Westpac which goes straight there, but there is some debate at Atlassian about whether this is faster or slower than navigating the roads. If you're willing to walk the extra 175 metres or so, this has the advantage that tickets to Wynyard are slightly cheaper than tickets to Town Hall in some circumstances.
To give credit where it's due, the knowledge of the shortcut comes via Charles via Mandy via Chris Owen via Don Willis.

3 Comment(s)

Related piece of trivia: It is possible to go from Philip Street all the way down to the across the road from the Cinemas on George Street without stepping outside. However this is only possible during business hours as it involves a shortcut through Lincraft in Pitt St. Mall.

By Steve Smith at May 28, 2008 7:32 PM

I want an option on Google Maps to show shortcuts rather than normal paths. Perhaps some kind of overlay...

By Jason Yip at June 8, 2008 3:21 PM

Great idea. What I would like to add is the option of building a vaccum tube like the ones in Futurama.

By Robert Spielmann at July 21, 2008 9:38 AM

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