Māori kids looking at the Te Roopū Māori (TRM) calendar for Wiki O (O Week) were shocked to discover there was no Mystery Bus lined up for 2020. Most expected the Mystery Bus to be back for the start of another year.
The Mystery Bus brought Māori students squished proximity, funnels on entry and a deafening Shed Party playlist all rolled into one. The annual TRM tradition consisted of about 40 students hitting up surprise locations around Dunedin.
Previous bus activities ranged from beer tower races at Starters to driving up to a gorgeous lookout on the outskirts of the city. Past attendees said there was no better place to watch their crusty mates vomit up their Double Browns.
Instead of the annual Mystery Bus event, TRM members were invited to dress up as Avatar: Legend of Aang characters and have a BYO in the Dunedin Rugby Club. Students were certain from the start that it would pale in comparison to the bus.
Questionable location aside, the change begged the question: why kill the Mystery Bus?
A member of the TRM Exec reckoned that the Exec “didn’t stop the mystery bus,” they just wanted to “change it up” to avoid people getting bored of the same event year after year. According to this member, the “alcohol restrictions on buses makes it difficult to run the event”.
The lack of mystery damaged the appeal of the event. This was reflected in the low number of attendees. Only 23 people turned up to the empty Rugby clubroom. The Avatar costumes were boring or non-existent. Students found that beer pong and a hundy feed could hardly right the wrongs that had been done.
The event did not have the same magic as the bus. One student said the Mystery Bus was cool because it was basically a Dunedin sightseeing experience, but more boozey and less shit.
Students who went to both the Mystery Bus and mystery-less BYO said that the “Mystery Bus beats BYO any day,” but overall were having an okay time. Other attendees wished that Appa had come and fucken yip yipped them to Starters to sink a tower.
Despite the lack of numbers, the attendees rated the competitions and games. It was clear that the TRM Exec had put a fuck load of effort into the event, but they could not compensate for the lack of mystery and the lack of bus.