Aurora Australis, July 2013

Preface

‘Operation Pea Soup’ was a successfully executed mission that saw the entire Sydney basin fielded six layers deep. Inspired and motivated after the event, the agents involved hosted a hangout to discuss their success and to brainstorm their next operation.  But what could possibly be bigger than fielding the largest capital city in Australia?

During the hangout an idea was formed to create simultaneous Enlightened fields over each of the Australian and New Zealand capital cities. Agents were invited from various Enlightened communities around Australia and New Zealand to recruit interested agents and discuss how we would unite individual communities of national and international Enlightened agents to pull off what would arguably be the worlds largest (by square kilometres) set of simultaneously created Ingress fields in a single operation.

Over the coming weeks agents networked, recruited and reached out – first to agents of any cities that were not already represented in the initial hangout, in order to invite them into the dedicated Google+ community that was created to plan the new operation. The general outline was that agents would be responsible for fielding their own city.

During the original planning stages, the Ingress scanner app only supported shields as portal mods.  Although most Australian cities were considered too far apart to field as a whole, it was mentioned to agents that they should check for anchor points so that we might also link some of the city fields to each other – i.e. a single link joining the city-fields – if the distance was within the 655.2km link range of a level 8 portal.  If viable portals were found, instructions were to hack portal keys that would later be delivered to the required locations for linking.

This report documents the planning and execution of this operation. It covers the introduction of new portal mods providing the ability to amplify the maximum portal linking distance; how the new scanner developments and successful national and international recruiting magnified the original plans, morphing the operation from the original “simultaneous individual city-fields, with connecting links across the country” into an operation making Australia the world’s first continent to to be covered in Enlightened fields.

Notes on conventions used in this document:

• Unless otherwise shown, times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), being UTC +10 hours.
• Times are formatted in 24-hour notation, i.e. 1pm is represented as 13:00
• All agent names are prefixed with the ‘at’ symbol, @
• When ingress portal names are mentioned, they are named in full in bold italics.
  (A list of portal intel links is included in the appendix)

Report Content Contributed by all Agents involved

Compilation and editing by @Kittiee42, @kru and @TheTruthIsOut

Operation Aurora Australis Summary

Key Dates

• Inception 1 – April 26th, 2013 – concept of simultaneous Capital City fields in Australia & New Zealand
• Inception 2 – June 12th, 2013 – concept of complete national coverage is first presented.
• Execution –  July 6th, 2013

Agents: Over 240 Enlightened agents were involved in the planning and execution of Aurora Australis.

Aurora Australis Statistics

Reference Statistics –

• Australian Population (2011 census): 21,507,717
• Total Area of Australia:  7,692,024 km²
• Total Area of United States (incl. Alaska): 9,826,675 km²

Operation Aurora Australis’ Ingress Statistics –

• National Fields – Total Coverage:  8,165,675 km²

• 106.16% of Australia covered

• National Fields – Area Covered (discounting overlapping fields): 7,045,122 km²

• 92.11% the area of Australia
• 71.69% the area of United States

• National Fields – Link Distance – Longest Link: 1957 km
• National Fields – Link Distance (Total): 38,293 km 

• 3.005 times Earth’s diameter

• National Fields – Mind Units Obtained: 22,704,013

• Although screenshots published internationally show Australia covered in green, few realise just how many simultaneous fields were created within the various state and territories of Australia “under” the national fields.  This is in addition to fields created within New Zealand and also the huge links and fields that spanned the Tasman Sea.  Unfortunately it is not possible to obtain mind units statistics after the event (other than agents sharing scanner screenshots), so the final tally of just how many mind units were obtained by the operation will probably never be known for certain.  Estimates put the number well over 35 million.

Operation Aurora Australis’ Achievements –

• First continent fielded to more than 90% coverage
• First Trans-Tasman field (Tasmania  to New Zealand)
• First simultaneous fielding of five capital cities in Australia (possibly also a global first)

National Fields

Holy Trinity Church -> Roxby Village -> Statue of Makybe Diva

Mind Units: 622,997 | Area: 423,439 km²

Roxby Village -> Statue of Makybe Diva -> Penneshaw Water Plaque

Mind Units: 439,932 | Area: 49,483 km²

Roxby Village -> Tacking Point Compass ->  Stairway to Heaven

Mind Units: 6,238,279 | Area: 1,009,110 km²

Roxby Village -> Tacking Point Lighthouse -> Hamilton Island Yacht Club

Mind Units: 5,566,344 | Area: 940,529 km²

Roxby Village -> Tacking Point Lighthouse -> Stairway to Heaven

Mind Units: 6,238,130 | Area: 1,080,090 km²

Tacking Point Lighthouse -> Hamilton Island Yacht Club -> Whale Sculpture on Hamilton Island
Mind Units: Undetermined | Area: 1122 km²

Pine Creek Museum ->  Hamilton Island Yacht Club -> Whale Sculpture on Hamilton Island
Mind Units: Undetermined | Area: 2194 km²

Pine Creek Museum -> World’s Oldest Operating Outdoor Movie -> Uluru (Ayers Rock) Classic S

Mind Units: 53,039 | Area: 627,739 km²

Uluru (Ayers Rock)  Classic S -> Pine Creek Museum -> Roxby Village

Mind Units: 24,883 | Area: 379,709 km²

Pine Creek Museum-> Hamilton Island Yacht Club ->  Roxby Village

Mind Units: 382,348 | Area: 1,455,170 km²

World’s Oldest Operating Outdoor Movie -> Uluru  (Ayers Rock) Classic S -> Jurien Bay Bandstand

Mind Units: 217,768 | Area: 907,098 km²

Paddy Hannan Memorial Statue -> Uluru (Ayers Rock) Classic S -> Roxby Village

Mind Units: 29,379 | Area: 449,663 km²

Uluru (Ayers Rock) Classic S -> Paddy Hannan Memorial Statue -> Jurien Bay Bandstand

Mind Units: 35,418 | Area: 192,355 km²

Paddy Hannan Memorial Statue ->  Jurien Bay Bandstand -> Holy Trinity Church

Mind Units: 26,585 | Area: 72,010 km²

Stairway to Heaven -> Penneshaw Water Plaque -> Roxby Village

Mind Units: 1,444,167 | Area: 176,573 km²

Log Hauler -> Monument Aux Morts -> Roxby Village

Mind Units: 1,384,744 | Area: 156,265 km²

Holy Trinity Church -> Roxby Village -> Paddy Hannan Memorial Statue

Mind Units: Undetermined | Area: 133,979 km²

Pine Creek Museum ->  Worlds Oldest Operating Outdoor Movie -> Cyclone Tracy Twisted Poles

Mind Units: 57,814  | Area: 109,147  km²

International Field

Stairway to Heaven -> Botanic Garden Entrance by Stuart Griffiths -> North East Valley War Memorial

Mind Units: 14,497 | Area: 1086 km²

Credits

Agents in the Field

These agents were active on the day of the operation, grouped according to roles they performed.

Operators

ACT: @xCODEx

NSW: @Dimand, @fourfootseven, @urbanhick, @M0SES, @DDsD, @furinkan, @typed, @trakka

NT: @Snitz

QLD: @Seraphicus

SA: @nels90210, @CrazyDutchman

TAS: @Prunes

VIC: @photic, @watsonarw, @Weston90

WA: @TheTruthIsOut, @Kittiee42, @Nadii, @PadraigMacIain

New Zealand: @k1000716, @insertaliashere, @Maximinus, @TwistedDemon, @SkronkyBite

Link Makers

Jurien Bay, WA: @Prawnstar, @BobKeever, @AubinPhoenix, @vantastic, @ZedX, @Vornz

York, WA: @JoeBloggs, @SpeedFreak, @Yapapi

Uluru, NT: @kru, @jzu, @c79

Pine Creek, NT: @Snitz, @420budz, @letsgomurphys, @dirtyranga, @whatsit, @Smurfkilling, @farmerjo11

Port Macquarie, NSW: @fruitcup, @tanyak, @RoboticBotox, @darkcuddles, @hardwire, @sstteevvee, @Joku, @zziggy

Forster, NSW: @zziggy, @Joku

Culburra, Ulludulla, NSW: @Joemertix, @ae11a, @drown, @R3DD0G, @l1l1, @Prismo

ACT: @AjaxMaximus, @otobas, @Kendr,  @Makaz, @Iamcholder,

Apollo Bay, VIC: @KudraKalliope, @Fustian, @richdrich

Shepparton, VIC: @fleshy, @Entee, @Kwana

Warragul, VIC: @unknownkwita, @aimlesspenguin, @philcart

Bruny Island, TAS: @Aramgutang, @xsiteresync, @XSITEexergamer, @TheMirror

Meningie, SA: @XxInvictus

Clare, SA: @Pondy

Roxby Downs, SA: @CVLF, @SounderAU, @Nightshade13

New Zealand:  @smebro, @onevia, @ninox, @NikiG, @130spec, @gonefishing, @yeetrees, @macgyveris, @Chevron7, @Maximinus, @TwistedDemon, @Si76, @antlion

Corridor Defenders, Link Breakers and Standby Agents

Toowoomba, QLD: @Forknuts, @Seraphicus

Warwick, QLD: @AntMan

Mackay, QLD: @Raker

Hamilton Island, QLD: @mtac, @GvD, @Knuffie

Bathurst, Forbes, NSW: @eidyia, @ionno,

Bathurst, Lucknow, Orange NSW: @K656, @W12

Tenterfield, NSW: @Callashandra, @Mouldypants @Ryant

Tamworth, NSW: @Cernunnon, @Toomuk, @Pathf1nder

Western NSW: @eidyia, @ionno, @K656, @W12

ACT:  @xCODEx / @Darklordzoneaxe

VIC: @greenLightning, @LinxSmasher, @seltha, @Blitzcrieg, @eGreed, @Laylika, @Ranorith, @photic

Cockle Creek, TAS: @FraMauro, @Suds

Huonville, TAS: @XSITEWyvern, @TychoQuad

Kingston, TAS: @Yuuyami, @Toshofello, @Auska

Bicheno, TAS: @JamDonut, @etbe

Greater Hobart, TAS: @Acquired

Roseberry, TAS: @Prunes

Launceston, TAS: @CraigRat

Adelaide, SA: @dharmah

Kapunda, SA: @MeHz, @snowFoxi

Adelaide Hills, SA: @Nightshade13, @Hardwood, @Enderdragon13, @Awesumsauce

Murray Bridge, SA: @Addling, @Chehazul

New Zealand: @insertaliashere, @Spectralknight, @Lazybumble, @Jumpgate, @Smizmo, @Do31n8a, @sPiel, @id6fwa89, @JebusNZ, @BASNZ, @Chaosdesign, @Talden, @wigglor, @arkique, @gonefishing

Distraction

Wollongong, NSW: @x90, @spacetimetraveler, @AgentStorm

Pyrmont, NSW: @aftos, @fourfootseven, @Sh4p3r, @www, @owl, @porkkapital, @Simon255

ACT: @Watby

Hobart CBD, TAS:@JBULLFROG, @Jeanz

Adelaide, SA: @dharmah, @groceryshopping, @ProfMilkshake, @GingerCat, @TitaniumASmith

Supporting Agents

In the weeks leading up to the operation, various functions were performed that required the coordination and cooperation of many, many Enlightened agents.  They are listed here, grouped according to the various tasks that were performed in order to make the operation a success.

Agents claiming critical portals leading up to Aurora Australis

Broome: @Weston90

Albany: @Digitup

Port Lincoln: @Loki6969

Kangaroo Island: @goingfission

Meningie: @XxInvictus

Roxby Downs: @kiwikjk, @Nightshade13

Pine Creek: @Snitz

Hamilton Island: @owl

Port Macquarie: @Yeebok, @fourfootseven

New Zealand: @BASNZ, @Maximinus, @TwistedDemon

Key Couriers – Agents delivering keys between major cities and nodes

Australia

New Zealand

Agents who made dedicated trips to collect keys prior to Aurora Australis

Australia

New Zealand

Other Agents who contributed keys, mods, viruses, inventory items & information

Australia

New Zealand

Other Agents who Contributed to the success of Aurora Australis

Physical Resource Supplier: @CarpeAnatem, @RoboticBotox @aftos @Aramgutang, @AnotherMatt

Planning Premises: @fruitcup, @furinkan

Backup Key Courier: @ParrotHerder, @Aramgutang, @JamDonut, @RoboticBotox. @Simon255, @Roj667,

Ingress Wedding: @GvD and @Knuffie (took time from their own wedding to Ingress)

Technical Specialists (KML design, servers, etc): @Aramgutang, @Dimand, @Joku, @kru, @maximinus @kudrakalliope

Document Writers: @M0SES, @Kittiee42, @TheTruthIsOut, @fourfootseven, @Joku, @sstteevvee, @nels90210, @Aramgutang, @KudraKalliope, @Entee, @kru

Worthy Resistance Adversaries

Jurien Bay, WA: @Worros

York, WA: @Senectus

Culburra, NSW: @dude1

Port Macquarie, NSW: @anouke, @chaosduck, @Saltyplum

Forbes, NSW: @kubed, @SkyDweller

Hobart, TAS: @MainDog, @VantageAus

Roxby Downs, SA: @Moneydork

Kangaroo Island, SA: @Kayah

Carterton, NZ: @farmboy 

Akaroa, NZ: @rediguana

Aurora Australis Activity log

Planning

April 26th – “One Good Turn Deserves Another”

Google+ community “Aurora Australis” created with the aim to simultaneously field all Australian capital cities.

May 7th

• Google+ community “Sydney’s Aurora Australis CELLebration” community was started, initially those who expressed interest in repeating another field and along with participants of Pea Soup were invited. The recruitment  process continued throughout life of the operation, up to and including the day of the execution..

June 6th – “Amplification”

• Artwork hinting at a new portal mod technology, a “Link Amplifier”, is mentioned by Niantic and others that reverse engineered a scanner update. Various theories are tabled and researched, including a possible formula posted on Reddit.  Numbers are crunched and hypothetical distance calculations made.  The idea of migrating from just “city fields” to perhaps one big “continental field” is mentioned, but without concrete data on how far link range is boosted it does not progress any further.

June 8th

• The first offer to donate resources – particularly ADA Refactors and JARVIS Virus items – for the purpose of a continental field was made by @perrfy.  More offers from other agents quickly follow.

June 12th – Nationwide Concept

• Ingress scanner update released, which is now openly described as capable of supporting the new Link Amplifier mods.  Two days later passcodes begin appearing that award Link Amps. 24/7 chat notifications are set up between operation agents in the Aurora Australis community to expedite acquisition and testing of the mods.  (The Link Amp mods eventually became available via hacking on June 28th).

• @ozmusic posted a concept image – an idea of fields stemming from a central location in Australia and reaching out to various points on the coast.

@ozmusic’s concept of a national field

• This post in the operation’s planning community generated a flurry of activity as agents brainstormed – sharing their local knowledge of portals and future travel plans to far off places.

June 14th

• @fourfootseven notices that @owl owns the portals on Hamilton Island and contacts @owl on G+, where she learns that @owl apparently sings to the portals while hacking and obtained six keys for Whale Sculpture on Hamilton Island and four keys for Hamilton Island Yacht Club. He is still on the island.

• Sydney Agent @Elsensei530 contacted and – being from Cairns, Queensland previously – asked if he still has any keys for Cairns.  He generously gives all of them to @RoboticBotox.  Unfortunately it is found that none of the keys could be used. The possibility of a field between Cairns, Pine Creek and Hamilton Island was viable, however Agents who would be in Hamilton Island were there to get married and could not be asked to be stationed at the portal to perform linking.  Furthermore, finding Cairns couriers that would attend another city to enable the transport of keys proved incredibly difficult.
  
• @mtac informs us that he and two other Agents will be in Airlie Beach, very near to Hamilton Island on the weekend of 6th July, for the wedding of Agent Knuffie and Agent GvD.

• @nels90210 indicates that keys for both Penneshaw Water Plaque, Kangaroo Island and Statue of Makybe Diva, Port Lincoln can be sourced and linked to from Tasmania as well as from Roxby Downs, the latter being our central South Australian node.

June 15th – Low Level Amplifier Tests in Outback Australia

• Four link amplifiers are applied to a Level 1 portal in rural Australia.  Various field trials are done to confirm link amplifier behaviour and effects.  Calculations are recorded as an early verification of boosted portal link range.

June 16th – Testing Maximum Amplification

• During an Enlightened farm event, agent @LoneWolf86 donates four Link Amps for a level 8 portal test, providing final verification of the new amplified range for links.  This was the final technical confirmation required to green light the national operation.  Results are shared with the rest of the Aurora Australis community and operational tools are updated with the new formula.

• Agents @Sh4p3r, @yeebok and @fourfootseven deploy multihacks and heatsinks obtained from passcodes onto Tacking Point Lighthouse and Tacking Point Compass portals.  A bounty of keys are hacked from the portals, nearly all of which travel back to Sydney with @Sh4p3r.

• @maxuminus advises that he will be travelling from New Zealand and staying in Melbourne from Friday 21st June to Wednesday 26th June.

• @Aramgutang advises he will be in Tasmania first week of July and will be there for the weekend of the 6th.

June 17th

• @fourfootseven starts a hangout with @Roj667, @Sh4p3r and @Simon255 to co-ordinate the couriering of Port Macquarie keys to Melbourne to be passed on to @maximinus.

• @fourfootseven starts a hangout introducing @maximinus and @Simon255 for the purpose of the two agents finding a meeting place in Melbourne on the same weekend for the exchange of keys from New Zealand South Island to Australia, and from Port Macquarie to New Zealand.

• @owl returns to Sydney and informs @fourfootseven that the final count for Hamilton Island keys are: eight for Whale Sculpture on Hamilton Island and six for Hamilton Island Yacht Club.

June 18th

• @Sh4p3r and @Simon255 meet at a pub in Sydney, providing keys for Tacking Point Lighthouse and Tacking Point Compass to @Simon255.

• Agents @fourfootseven and @Aramgutang discuss the possibility of a field between Port Macquarie, Tasmania and South Australia, as well as a field between Port Macquarie, Hamilton Island and South Australia – all while @Aramgutang is in Hobart on 6th July. Both Agents desiring simultaneous “city fields” covering Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra , Darwin, Brisbane, Adelaide,  Perth and New Zealand’s cities.

• @Snitz and @fourfootseven have a conversation about the possibility of Darwin agents getting a field over their city on 6th July; @Snitz confirms it’s doable.  @Snitz makes the commitment to travel to Pine Creek on the weekend to acquire keys.

• Enlightened agents in Brisbane and the Gold Coast were contacted several times, inviting them to participate in simultaneously covering multiple capital cities in fields, but no response was received.

• The call is put out for couriers to ferry keys between either Sydney or Melbourne and Darwin. Agents heed the call, not knowing why or what purpose it may be for.

• @Snitz informs @fourfootseven that their agent @Sheddy is flying to New Zealand on 1st July, with a stopover in Sydney, and then flies back on 5th July with another stop over in Sydney.

• Tensions within the Tasmanian Ingress community cause agents @XSITEexergamer and @xsiteresync – two of our Team’s strong leaders – to consider leaving Ingress altogether. Moderator status of the Ingress Enlightened Tasmania community was passed onto @FraMauro.

June 19th

• Sydney Agent @Simon255 flies to Melbourne to deliver Australian keys to Kiwi Agent @maximinus and collect New Zealand keys.

• Adelaide Agent @nels90210 and @fourfootseven discuss the possibility of a field between Port Macquarie, South Australia and Tasmania, as well as another field between Port Macquarie, Hamilton Island and South Australia, for 6th July. @nels90210 suggests Roxby Downs, as they have numerous fly-in/fly-out agents working in the town.  Concepts are presented with possible endpoints:

• Basic plan
• Extending further into South Australia

• @fourfootseven learns that she will be in Sydney on 1st July through to 5th July.

• @nels90210 books flights to Sydney to fly in on 29th June and depart on the evening of 1st July.

• A realisation that Adelaide agent @nels90210 who holds keys for Roxby Downs will leave Sydney, just hours after Darwin agent @Sheddy lands and departs. Would there be enough time for them to meet and swap the Roxby Downs and Pine Creek portal keys?

• @AjaxMaximus receives a phonecall from @fourfootseven and is advised that several capital cities will be fielded on 6th July, and that a field is being planned to cover Hobart, Melbourne, ACT and Sydney at the same time. @AjaxMaximus commits to getting a field up over Canberra simultaneously.

• With most of the cities committed to go ahead on 6th July, a roll call post was made in the planning community. Within 30 minutes more than half of the communities members had responded and were ready to roll. 24 hours later @nels90210 and @fourfootseven discussed the non responders and made the difficult decision to remove them from the community.

• @Sh4p3r meets with @Aramgutang at an Ingress farming event and passes on remaining Port Macquarie keys.

June 20th – Linking East to West

• @Public and @fourfootseven discuss the possibility of finding a courier to/from Sydney and Perth.  If we could get keys delivered to agents in Western Australia – and/or their portal keys delivered back to the east coast, then our fields might look like this – Intel-planning – east coast fields extended to WA

• @Aramgutang makes the proposal to travel to Parkes to acquire keys on the weekend of the 29th. It was decided that @Aramgutang, who is closely watched, should not deploy or smash any of the portals, @DarkCuddles, @sstteevvee and @Joku volunteered to travel with @Aramgutang. On 27th June @Joku proposed that coastal portals Culburra and Forster and numerous western portals stretching from Bathurst out to Forbes would be the best choice for Sydney field nodes. Travel plans to collect keys were altered to accommodate this proposal and success followed.

June 21st

• @fourfootseven puts the call out to find an agent travelling to Perth; a call answered within hours by observant agent @interrupt, who noted that Sydney agent @rarr had mentioned travelling to Perth in a few days’ time.

• Studying the chosen portal at Hamilton Island, @fourfootseven notices that nearby in Mackay were one or two active Enlightened L8 agents. This presented a risk of an unintentional (friendly) blocking link and @fourfootseven wanted to include the locals if possible. She joined the Mackay Ingress Community where she was able to get in touch with @Raker. @Raker was led to believe that the fields were a wedding gift for @Knuffie and @GvD.   The only further clarification provided was that this corridor needed to be kept clear.

• @fourfootseven contacts @rarr to confirm he is travelling to Perth for the weekend of the 6th July.  With little explanation, @fourfootseven advises @rarr that the Shapers need his help. @rarr bravely accepts the mission, knowing only that he must meet someone in Sydney prior to 5th July to collect items to deliver to Perth. @rarr books his Perth flight noting that his arrival time is 10:15 am, Friday July 5th.
  
• Morale appeared to be very low in Tasmania. With very few L8 agents and a small team there were many challenges. @fourfootseven approached Melbourne agent @JamDonut and asked if she and her husband @etbe would be willing to fly to Tasmania for our big fields on 6th July.  @JamDonut and @etbe accepted their mission and went about preparing, booking flights and accommodation in Tasmania.

June 22nd – An Empty Inventory

• @Snitz, @Letsgomurphys and @420budz drove to Pine Creek and to Katherine to hack for keys. The day our inventories disappeared, the Agents managed to acquire plenty of keys for Pine Creek, and few for Katherine.

• @Simon255 and @maximinus meet at the Flagstaff Hotel in Melbourne. Both Agents are experiencing Ingress inventory loading issues, and despite the meeting going well, keys are unable to be exchanged.  An alternative meeting time was arranged.

• @StarMachinery donates Jarvis and ADA flip cards to @Aramgutang.

June 23rd

• @Simon255 and @maximinus meet for the second time and with inventory issues resolved, keys are exchanged without incident. @Simon255 flies back to Sydney the next day.

• Melbourne Agent @maijar contacts @fourfootseven and advises that they have an agent @Weston90 currently on holidays in Broome WA, who will be flying back to Melbourne in a couple of days with a stopover in Perth.

• @fourfootseven calls in at @Callashandra’s home for a coffee.  There also were other brand new Enlightened agents @RyanT and @MouldyPants.  @Callashandra and her son @MouldyPants were given some information about what was about to occur, and they were asked if they would be happy to go to Tenterfield for the day, to clear out any blocking links should any arise.  @Callashandra agreed absolutely that she’d love to. @fourfootseven stocked @Callashandra up with resources for just in case.  @Callashandra was also crucial in helping us to get a hold of @cernunnon, a Tamworth local.

• @Forknuts and @seraphicus agreed to be on standby to take out any blocking links that may stem east of Dalby and west of Toowoomba.

June 24th – Keys In the Open

• @maijar contacts @fourfootseven and urgently informs her that @Weston90 is coming home early; he has multiple keys for two portals in Broome.  Agent @fourfootseven frantically contacts Perth Agents @public, @kittiee42 and @YNEMA to find an Agent to meet @Weston90 at the Perth Airport.  Agent @YNEMA answers the call, and can meet @Weston90 at the Airport when he lands for his 45 minute stopover before going on to Melbourne.

During the 3-4 hour wait, agent @public and @YNEMA quickly coordinated meeting each other to transfer keys from WA to be in Agents @YNEMA’s scanner so that they could go back to Melbourne with @Weston90, as couriering keys between Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide was much more convenient than Perth to Adelaide. The maps were studied and measurements and calculations were made to see what fields we could make with Broome keys, we knew that Broome would be a ghost town, so sending an agent to Broome to link from was out of the question. Already committed to the Roxby Downs portal, it sadly is not within range of Broome, even with an L8 Portal and four Rare Link Amps (ref. June 16th tests). Possibilities on how to use these keys would continue to be explored for a few more days. What was crucial, was that these keys land in Perth, as in Melbourne they’d be too far out of range to keep the portals charged.

The time had arrived for @Weston90’s plane to depart from Broome, unfortunately there was a delay, and departure was late. With unclear communication from the airlines an accurate time for @Weston90’s landing could not be determined. Agent @YNEMA was on standby and ready to move to the airport at any moment.  However, now the stopover time had been reduced from 45 minutes to just ten minutes!

After @Weston90’s plane landed safely in Perth he had ten minutes to make the dash from one plane to the next. Agent @YNEMA was about 5 minutes away from the airport when @Weston90 landed. @Weston90, serving the Enlightened with loyalty, dropped two of each portals keys as he ran to the next plane.  They landed very close to a portal at the Perth Airport. We all held our breath, hoping that @YNEMA would be able to collect the keys before they fell into a Resistance Agents hands.  Success! @YNEMA was the first Agent on the scene after @Weston90’s departure and all four keys that @Weston90 dropped were secured. Now both portals could be kept charged, albeit with lots of XM being poured into them by the Western Australian agents, given the reduced efficiency range over such long distances.

• @Snitz informed @fourfootseven that the Darwin team had just been dealt a blow. There was a good chance that now only two agents were available to head to Pine Creek on 6th July. @fourfootseven asked her friends in Sydney to donate Jarvis Viruses and ADA Refactors for the cause (though still many did not know what the cause was). @nels90210 offered to donate L8 power cubes.

• @Nightshade13 arrives in Olympic Dam with minimal information about his task at hand.

• An informative idea swapping and morale boosting hangout was held with the Tasmanian Enlightened Agents, & NSW  Agents @Aramgutang, @fourfootseven and SA Agent @nels90210.  During this hangout concerns were expressed and shared and all agents involved committed themselves to Operation Aurora Australis – developing a plan, and selecting the Portal that would be used for the Tasmanian node, as well as identifying potential fallback portals.   A successful evening, accomplishing much in the way of morale boosting,  team and community building.

June 25th

• @kiwikjh and @Nightshade13 build the level 8 portal at Roxby Village.  This is done early because the portal in question needed to be level 8 to reach the required destinations and the only agents available to visit Roxby Village on July 6th would not have the right agent credentials to make a level 8 portal.

June 23rd – Operation BFG (WA Large Field Appears)

• Preliminary Aurora plans aimed for a single location near Perth, Western Australia as a single end-point – most likely Holy Trinity Church in York, WA. In an example of parallel streams of effort by the Enlightened, agents in WA establish their own large field covering a large portion of their state! Amidst the congratulations of their achievement, Aurora plans are reconsidered in light of the WA large field not only appearing, but being maintained for several days with no takedown appearing likely.  A decision is made to incorporate the existing WA large field into the larger operation.  Key movements are adjusted accordingly.

June 26th

• @nels90210 brought to our attention the way in which links may have a different path as by the curvature of the earth, as evidence by agents in Russia sharing their first hand experiences on Google+ http://goo.gl/lpGl2  This brought lots of discussion on the best way to plan. Ultimately Google Earth was used by @kru and @Joku to produce KML maps that accurately showed link paths and highlighted portals of interest.

• Aurora Australis Google+ planning Hangout held. Google Hangouts limitation immediately realised when we had over twice the number of attendees wanting to participate than the maximum of 10. Screenshot

• @owl and @Aramgutang meet in Sydney, @Aramgutang collects Hamilton Island Keys from @owl. @owl retains 1 of each key, and lovingly pours xm into these two portals every day.

• Melbourne agent @fleshy makes a request to @fourfootseven to try and arrange some of the Roxby Downs keys to come to Melbourne, so that they could link up to the central node.   @Roj667’s travel times for the following week are confirmed. Conveniently, @Roj667 arrives in Sydney moments after @RoboticBotox is Scheduled to meet @Sheddy for the delivery of Roxby Downs Keys and Hamilton Island keys.

• Extra Roxby Downs keys are added to the schedule for the exchange between @nels90210 and @RoboticBotox. @RoboticBotox receives a new schedule of transfers that sees him remaining at Mascot Airport Sydney for an extra hour on Monday, July 1st.

• Crisis averted in Darwin: it looks like there would be four L8 Agents available to go to Pine Creek on the 6th. They unfortunately do not quite have enough Jarvis and Ada viruses to make the flip to L8.

• @ozmusic contacted @fourfootseven to let them know that Melbourne Agent @fudd would be travelling to Darwin for work reasons this week.  Agent @fudd accepted his mission to courier all of the remaining Broome keys from @Weston90 to Darwin.

June 27th – “Fields Across The Continent”

• @KudraKalliope meets @YNEMA in Perth to receive Albany and Kalgoorlie keys. Later that day, @public drops Albany keys for @KudraKalliope to grab.  The planned meeting falls through by mere minutes due to car trouble, however the keys are picked up by @KudraKalliope before any other agents are able to acquire them.

• 08:30 AEST
  @Weston90 and @fudd are introduced to each other via Hangouts.  Unfortunately an agreed meeting time for the two of them could not be established at short notice.   Agent @ozmusic volunteered to meet with @Weston90 to collect the Broome keys as he would be meeting with @fudd the following evening.  Still, no available time-slots could be found to meet.

• 09:21 AEST
  @Weston90 was advised to give all of his remaining Broome keys to @fudd to go to Darwin, though the logistics of getting the keys to @fudd had not yet been sorted.

• 11:57 AEST

Up until this point in time, the proposed fields and agent availability appeared to support the following –

• Full coverage of the east coast states (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania)
• Additional coverage to include parts of South Australia (Adelaide and/or Port Lincoln)
• Additional coverage to include parts of Northern Territory (Darwin)
• A large southwest section of Western Australia (near Perth)
  

However this left a large gap in central Australia, an area intersecting three Australian states – WA, NT and SA. There was no way to link across the central part of the country, even a P8 with four link amplifiers: the distance of over 2,000 km was just too far.

Agent @kru hinted that there may be a solution – in the form of a pending holiday to Uluru.  Schedules were checked, flight timetables were examined, breath was held.  Most importantly, various key couriers that were already in transit were also shortlisted for possible emergency detours.

• 12:35 AEST
  Melbourne Agent @Weston90 invited @maijar into the logistics hangout.  An agreed meeting time and place was found between @maijar and @Weston90 at the Warrien Portal.  All of @Weston90’s Broome Keys were collected by @maijar.

• Sydney Agent @Aramgutang gives Hamilton Island keys to @RoboticBotox.

• Agent @Simon255 travelled into the Sydney CBD to meet with @Aramgutang to donate resources and to give @Aramgutang the New Zealand keys.

• NSW’s Central Coast and Newcastle agents @Dimand and @Robdog666 were contacted to enquire about their availability on the day, for some local keys, and if they would like to donate any items to the cause.  Arrangements were made to meet in Newcastle on Sunday afternoon/evening on @fourfootseven’s trip down to Sydney.

• Following the revelation @kru, @jzu and @c79 might be able to get to Uluru, a hangout was started with agents @kru, @Aramgutang, @Kittiee42, @YNEMA and @Public.  If Uluru were to be included, they had to determine which portals would be best to work with in Western Australia – as well as consideration of their own BFG field that was already in place. Additional considerations included – keys for Broome; the fact there was already one Uluru portal key carried by Darwin agent @dirtyranga (@Aramgutang had exchanged when he passed through a month ago); there was also another Uluru portal key confirmed as still in @Aramgutang’s scanner.

• 16:14 AEST

Due to uncertainty about his next visit to Kangaroo Island, @goingfission creates the link Penneshaw Water Plaque, Kangaroo Island to Statue of Makybe Diva, Port Lincoln.

• 22:59 AEST
  Agent @kru shares with @Aramgutang and @fourfootseven that departure for Uluru is confirmed for both him, @jzu and @c79.  @fourfootseven prepares to tap various key couriers to amend their plans. Planning documentation is urgently updated to record and verify link distances and portal locations.  Stocks of ADA and JARVIS supplies that had been donated are checked, as they would be needed to make Uluru level 8.

June 28th

• Uluru discussion with WA Agents continues. Agent @Eumalan from Kalgoorlie was invited into the hangout and was asked to allow portals to decay as they held links that would block a link from Roxby Downs and from Uluru. Timing of the decay process would be very tight.  Estimates by planning staff had the resonators likely to completely decay just in time, providing there were no more 10% decay rate days instead of the usual 15%.

• Agents @maijar and @ozmusic met for lunch in Melbourne and all of the Broome keys collected earlier from @weston90 were transferred from @maijar to @ozmusic. Later that evening @ozmusic met with @fudd and transferred half of the Broome keys.

• @fourfootseven provided @Roj667 a complete list of keys that he needed to collect over the weekend from agents @ozmusic and @KudraKalliope for delivery to @RoboticBotox on 1st July.

• @fruitcup books the planning room for a meeting on 4th July and invites all of Sydney’s Aurora Cell members.

• NZ Agent @richdrich receives keys in Wellington from NZ Agents @adrenalinenz and @Auzeras.

• @fourfootseven requested an inventory stocktake of the Darwin team’s ADA Refactor items, JARVIS virus items and level 8 power cubes from @Snitz to ensure they had the resources to build two L8 Portals if necessary.  They didn’t. A call went to @M0SES who generously donated five of each and ten L6 power cubes, after we did some quick calculations to confirm how many ADA and JARVIS items they would likely need.  @Sh4p3r met with @M0SES en route to the Maquarie Uni smash, collected the resources and delivered them to @RoboticBotox.

• The “Communications Guidelines” document was started and progressed in record time – the shared collaborative edit and comment functions of Google Docs streamlining the process. Decisions on software and protocols to coordinate the overall operation were made.  Servers were set up and tested, including protection against any possible power outages.  Contributors include @M0SES, @StarMachinery, @kru, @Joku, @sstteevvee, and @fourfootseven. The guide includes detailed information for both field agents and operators to ensure consistent communication protocols on the day of the operation.

• @nels90210, @kiwikjh, @Hardwood, @Nightshade13 meet in Adelaide’s Chinatown area for a strategy meeting and to do the Port Lincoln and KI key exchanges as well as the first few JARVIS Viruses that would be required.  Some additional mod items were provided as well in case they would be needed.

June 29th

• @maximinus shares within our community a script to quickly and easily draw “great arcs” and thus quickly determine the actual path of each long link, allowing for the curvature of the earth.

• Agents @Joku, @Aramgutang, @darkcuddles and @sstteevvee embark on a twenty-hour road trip out west as far as Forbes to collect keys for what turned into a seven layer field over Sydney.  They collected keys from Bathurst, Lucknow (two portals), Sir Thomas Mitchell monument, and Forbes (three portals, one used twice).  They managed to avoid detection by a couple of local Resistance agents in Orange, thanks to seeing them before being discovered.

• @RoboticBotox picks up Roxby Downs keys and resources from SA agent @nels90210 at Sydney Central station. (photo)

• @Snitz and @Sheddy meet at the Charles Darwin University where @Snitz delivers the score of keys hacked in Pine Creek and Katherine to @Sheddy.

June 30th

• @fudd flies out of Melbourne and lands in Darwin. That afternoon @Dirtyranga meets with @fudd and receives two keys for Broome.

• @Kimsy and @Dimand, met with @fourfootseven in a quiet parking lot in Newcastle. There they gave @fourfootseven mods, keys and other resources that had been donated by local agents.

• @KudraKalliope passes all WA keys to @Roj667, receives NZ keys from @richdrich and passes NZ keys to @fleshy in Melbourne.

• @ozmusic and @Roj667 meet at a Resistance P8 farm at Melbourne Uni, @ozmusic passed the Broome keys to @Roj667.

• The existing large field in WA falls.  What was previously going to be the incorporation of their large field into the national plan was now a hole in our map over the southwestern part of Australia.  It was the keys to incorporate the WA large field (e.g. Paddy Hannan Memorial Statue) that were couriered, in lieu of keys to the preliminary plan’s end-point.  To put it another way: we had keys in transit to the vertex of a field that no longer existed.  Aurora Australis agents from WA begin brainstorming possible work-arounds and finding teams to establish links that would complete the fielding of their state.

July 1st (G-Minus Five Days) Manic Monday

• @RoboticBotox attends Sydney airport for key exchange meetings with –

• NT agent @sheddy – keys exchange in both directions for Queensland and South Australia
• Melbourne agent @Roj667, to pick up keys from Western Australia and deliver South Australian Keys

• @fourfootseven, @nels90210, @RoboticBotox, @MOSES, @Aramgutang and @Joku meet over lunch in an inner-city Sydney cafe to distribute national keys and weapon and virus stocks for couriering to the various national locations.

• @GvD and @Knuffie depart Sydney for Hamilton Island ahead of their wedding. Upon arrival they delay their departure from the main island to hack for more keys so they can keep the island charged and upgrade the portals.

• @Joemertix and @Trakka meet in Ryde, @Joemertix gives @Trakka a few flip cards to be donated to the cause.

• @kru travels to Artarmon to meet @fourfootseven, the latter providing @kru with keys collected from the lunch exchange earlier that same day.

• Keys for all of the Sydney’s inner fields decided and secured, @Joku shares the planning map of how the Sydney’s fields links will happen.

July 2nd (G-Minus Four Days)

• @fourfootseven participates in a CBD 8 Train farm with @trakka @M0SES, @W12 and @rarr.  During the farm @W12 advises that he will go to Dubbo with his family and take out blocking links on his way, After the farm, @Trakka provides @fourfootseven with the resources collected from @joemertix, and donates some of his own resources.

• @nels90210 meets agent @Hardwood in Adelaide and provides the remaining keys for Roxby Downs outbound links. These are to be couriered to @Nightshade13 the next day.

• @rarr and @fourfootseven walked off to a quiet corner for @rarr to receive keys from Roxby Downs, Port Lincoln, Broome, and Uluru, along with several resources, including link amps and viruses.

• Tas Op Team created to assemble a disheveled group of Tas Enlightened players. Tas Op Project Manager @XSITEexergamer and Tas Operator @Prunes, stitched together six Field Teams and a cohesive plan of attack in three nights while Agent @Aramgutang begins his route of intrepid destruction in the North, East and South East of Tasmania.

• @fleshy and @AjaxMaximus discuss plans via phone for Victoria ACT links. @fleshy mentions that @Fustian is traveling to Canberra and will provide keys to shepparton soccer ball cow and key to Griffith.  

July 3rd (G-Minus Three Days) The New Zealand Plan

• Suspicious Resistance links have popped up from Warwick to the Gold Coast. Thankfully, Warwick local Agent @AntMan steps up and agree to take out any blocking links if we need him to on the day.

• The collaborative efforts of @maximinus, @KudraKalliope, @JamDonut and @Aramgutang formalised a plan for how to use the New Zealand keys to make a field from Bruny Island Tasmania to South Island New Zealand. Though dwarfed in scale by the rest of the operation, this would stand as a groundbreaking achievement in its own right, being the first Trans-Tasman link and field ever attempted.

• @Hardwood arrives in Roxby Downs and delivers keys to @Nightshade13. Due to rogue SA Resistance regional activity hinting at the possibility of a blocking link arising, @Nightshade13 creates the first link from Roxby Village to Penneshaw Water Plaque in Kangaroo Island. @Cvlf completes the first field via Roxby Village to Statue of Makybe Diva in Port Lincoln for a total of 432,932 Mind Units. Link amps are left off to minimise potential blue unrest. All remaining necessary keys, backup keys, mods and viruses are transferred to @CVLF. Local Resistance are made aware of our ‘impressive’ field accomplishment in order to assuage any fears they may have had regarding this being the prelude to something bigger.

July 4th (G-Minus Two Days) “The War Room”

• One of our agents notes that the formula used by one of the link calculators for Link Amps is incorrect. Placing the fourth link amplifier on a portal provides a linking ability three times that of the portal’s standard range. A code correction is shared within the operational team.  A note is made to post the code update to the author of the calculator after the operation is over.

• Two days before G-day, it appears Western Australia may not have sufficient manpower to pull off their part. A last-minute recruitment effort is made on the local Google+ community, including bribing of agent @BobKeever with green suspenders and a bow tie to wear on the day.

• Agent @KudraKalliope receives keys from @watsonarw, drops keys for @etbe and @wiggy, and very late that day receives keys from @fleshy during a power outage in which they discuss final details of the Melbourne fielding plan and fine tune their planning document and map.

• NSW 19:00 AEST

A Sydney briefing took place for over four hours in a city conference room provided by @fruitcup.  Agent @Joku facilitated the presentation and coordination of resources for the Sydney field plan, followed by @kru presenting the national plan. At least twenty-five agents attended in person, with the maximum possible (ten agents) attending via video hangouts, with still more attending via instant-messaging hangouts.  Security considerations meant a publicly-accessible “Hangout On Air” was not used.

During this planning meeting Sydney-based teams heading West, South and North were finalised, with volunteers stepping up to fill numerous team vacancies.  Key and resource exchanges were performed for agents travelling to Forster (Syd Field), Culburra (Syd Field), Ulladulla (Syd Field) and Port Macquarie (National Field).  For the Sydney fields, the western teams didn’t take keys as the links were all to be made from the coast to the portals that they were to capture and protect.  For many agents, this was the first they had heard of the plan for Australia-wide fields.  Some additional “fallback” keys for the national fields were also exchanged, although in the end they were not required. Link amps, multi-hacks and other mods were also exchanged to support travelling teams. In addition the Sydney-based players, including controllers, were arranging to be loud and visible to obscure the absence from Sydney of so many active high level Enlightened.

@fruitcup prints copies of the Communications Guidelines before the meeting, and they are distributed to attendees. The contents are discussed including any required changes.  As the evening draws to a close @M0SES publishes the now comprehensive “Communication Guidelines” document to the operation’s Google+ community.

• “Meanwhile, in Tasmania…”

Agents @Aramgutang, @XSITEWyvern and @FraMauro capture Cockle Creek Portal (TAS) just after 13:00 local time, removing a blocking link to King Island. In an impressive example of determination, Resistance agent @VantageAus braves the rough and partially flooded terrain to recapture it within 6 hours. The blocking link is re-established shortly afterwards by Resistance agent @Maindog from King Island. A decision is made for a second Cockle Creek Carnage Crew consisting of @suds and @FraMauro to take out the portal on the 6th July. The Carnage Crews inflicted substantial damage in the Resistance stronghold of the Huon Valley region with portals on summit of Mt Wellington retaken in a driving blizzard.  It appears Tasmania is a tough environment for Ingress agents.

July 5th (G Minus One Day) – The Plan Comes Together

• NSW 07:45 AEST 

Agent @rarr advises @fourfootseven and @YNEMA that he had missed his flight to Perth. Thankfully he was able to book a new flight with the new arrival time in Perth of 13:25 AEST

• VIC 10:30 AEST

Team Apollo Bay (@KudraKalliope, @Fustian and @richdrich) depart Melbourne, with intention to stay overnight at The 12 Apostles, cause some early misdirection around Ballarat and remove a large blocking field from Woolongong > Colac > Rookwood which is blocking the TAS > Roxby corridor.

• ULURU, NT 13:35 AEST

Agents @c79, @kru and @jzu’s flight from Sydney arrives in Uluru.

• NSW 13:00 AEST

Agent @zziggy departs Sydney with family headed for Port Macquarie (PM Team 1). On the way blocking links are destroyed at a Taree rest area with partner @PowerfulONE (approx 17:43) Resistance agent “anouke” all-chats @zziggy with “lol that was unexpected – nobody ever goes there” to which @zziggy replies “yeah only holidaymakers”

• WA 14:00 AEST

Agent @rarr arrives from Sydney to Perth airport to deliver keys, viruses and Link Amplifiers to @YNEMA for national links.

• NSW 14:00 AEST

Agent @Joku heads north from Sydney to Forster, resisting all the tempting portals on the way, as he has been instructed to remain in stealth mode until the following day. On arrival at Port Macquarie,@Joku was PM Team 2.

• VIC 14:30 AEST

Team Apollo Bay take down Rookwood leaving just a single blocking link from Wollongong > Colac.

• QLD 15:25 AEST

@mtac arrives into Proserpine from Sydney and makes contact with @Raker. There are unclaimed portals in the area so no signs of resistance activity and no expectation of blocking links. All is quiet in the sunny north.

• VIC 15:30 AEST

Team Apollo Bay take down blocking link from Wollongong > Colac., despite a significant recharging from the Resistance.

• NSW 15:30 AEST

Port Macquarie Team 3 departs Sydney, with @sstteevvee driving agents @darkcuddles and @hardwire.  The team stays the night in Port Macquarie.

• ACT 17:45 AEST

Agents @AjaxMaximus, @otobas and @Kendr convene and coordinate relevant keys and to confirm primary and secondary objectives. Written orders produced and circulated.

• SA 18:00 AEST

Agent @MeHz hands Meningie and Kangaroo Island keys to @Pondy in Gawler to take back to Clare. Both agents work together to clear the bulk of blocking links in Gawler and Willaston under the pretense of helping @Pondy reach Access Level 8.

• NSW 21:00 AEST

Agents @eidyia and @ionno depart Sydney to travel to Forbes planning to take down links in the Blue Mountains, Bathurst and Orange later that night.

• SA 20:45 AEST

@MeHz and @snowFoxi clear blocking links in Gawler and surrounds.

• WA 21:30 AEST

Western Australian agents convene in the Woodvale Tavern to finalise teams for Jurien Bay and York and to exchange keys.

• TAS 10:15 AEST

Melbourne agents @etbe and @JamDonut arrive in Hobart. They meet up with Tas Ops Manager @XSITEexergamer for key drops and instructions for going to Bicheno to guard the key Bicheno Portal.

• SA 23:30 AEST

@XxInvictus departs Adelaide for Murray Bridge, clearing blocking links under the pretense of reaching Access Level 8. He completes his link clearing task in Murray Bridge by 03:10 and heads to Tailem Bend to clear links, heading back to Adelaide by 03:40.

• NSW 23:50 AEST

@eidyia and @ionno take down blocking links from Springwood NSW to Dubbo NSW. Realising that a bag with a laptop/phone/tablet/camera had been left on the side of a road in Sydney they had to then turn back, reaching out late in the night to Operators as agents are sought in the area to check if the bag is still where it was left. Fortunately the bag was recovered and their mission could resume.

July 6th (G day) – Aurora Australis

• NSW 02:00 AEST

@ionno and @eidyia depart Sydney again. Operators are still awake.

• NSW 03:00 AEST

@ionno and @eidyia take down two portals in Faulconbridge, NSW as part of a series of blocking links from Dubbo in country NSW in to the Blue Mountains just west of Sydney.  The agents then get a few hours sleep.

• NSW 06:00 AEST

Another ‘holidaying family’ – agents @W12, @K656 and their three children – depart Sydney for a visit to Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo. Their true mission is to break Resistance links and capture portals in Bathurst and Orange.

• NSW 07:00 AEST

The last Port Macquarie team (PM Team 4) departs Sydney with @fruitcup driving agents @tanyak and @RoboticBotox on a five hour road trip. PM Team 4 meet with PM Team 3 at lunch with fellow Sydney agents @Joku and @zziggy, who had prepared Forster earlier in the day for the NSW fields. Special mention goes to @zziggy’s family, who came along for the drive and lent us their Dad for the day’s mission.

• NSW 07:30 AEST

@eidyia and @ionno depart Blackheath to head towards Forbes, NSW via Bathurst and Orange. Travel time to Forbes estimate at this point is 3.5 hours, thus an arrival time of 11am with no allowance for time required to remove blocking links in Bathurst and Orange.  This timeline seemed precarious given these agents’ fields needed to be completed well before the national fields would engulf them, which planning said could come up as early as 2pm. Seemingly unsleeping Operators check and find no signs of Resistance activity in Forbes. The team continue towards Bathurst, obeying all speed limits and traffic regulations.

• NSW 08:00 AEST

@fourfootseven and her son go out for breakfast, during breakfast @fourfootseven is informed that there are Resistance agents nearby, and she should already be making appearances on intel. In a desperate attempt to get her name on intel, she uses multiple powercubes and fires off 40 L8 xmps which do approximately 2% damage to the resonators of the closest portal.

• NSW 08:45

@K656 and @W12 claimed the Gold Panner Man portal in Bathurst, one of the anchor points for the Sydney fields. They were slightly delayed moving to the next portals as their children had never seen frost before. To avoid suspicion @W12 and @K656 proceeded to reclaim the rest of Bathurst from 09:00. The local Enlightened remarked “”OO_oo so green!” (photo).

• QLD 09:00 AEST

@gvd is getting married in the afternoon but insists on one last hacking run as a single agent. @mtac accompanies him as they hack and recharge the local Hamilton Island portals. Still no signs of resistance activity in the area. They can switch their phones off during the wedding with a clear conscience.

• VIC 09:00 AEST

@KudraKalliope, @Fustian and @richdrich depart The 12 Apostles in dreary weather, heading for Apollo Bay. They see numerous rainbows and koalas along the way.

• NSW 10:00 AEST

@eidyia and @ionno take down Bathurst and District Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park portal removing blocking links while en-route through Bathurst. They continue on to Forbes via Orange.

• VIC 10:00 AEST

@unknownkwita, @aimlesspenguin and @philcart depart Melbourne for Warragul.

• NSW 10:10 AEST

@fourfootseven finds that Resistance agents have performed the Aussie Hustle on  a favourite portal To put her name on intel notifications (knowing she is being watched) she deploys an ADA Refactor on it, destroys all Resonators and then gives the portal the deploy it deserves. Soon afterwards her and her son are picked up by @aftos and taken to Pyrmont to farm and destroy. @fourfootseven deploying on everything she could get in range of, all whilst trying to follow the various hangouts for all of the Nation wide and New Zealand teams, proving quite a challenge.

• NSW 10:20 AEST

@K656 and @W12 moved through Lucknow, NSW, again claiming all portals to avoid any suspicion. Lucknow Gold Park was their real target as another anchor point for the local fields.

The final target for the agents posing as family holiday makers was in Orange, NSW, removing the final blocking links between Forster and Forbes

• WA 10:30 AEST

Team Jurien Bay convene over breakfast, farm the L8 portals in Wanneroo then depart Perth on board a 12-seater bus driven by @ZedX.

• SA 10:30 AEST

@XxInvictus collects one key for Hog Bay Anchor, Kangaroo Island, several power cubes and multiple Link Amplifiers from @Addling, then departs immediately for Meningie. @Addling and @Chehazul depart Adelaide for Mount Compass in order to clear blocking links.

• VIC 11:20 AEST

@Entee, @fleshy and @kwana are delayed leaving Melbourne, bound for Shepparton. Before leaving the suburbs, this delay turns out to be a blessing, as Resistance agents have made fields from Cobram to Nagambie, which would have blocked Melbourne’s fields had the team been on schedule.

• WA 11:30 AEST

Team York depart Perth.

• NSW 11:30 AEST

@Callashandra, @Mouldypants and @ryant arrive on site at Tenterfield after a five hour drive from the Coffs Coast region. They go on standby in anticipation of any Resistance activity in the area that will cause a blocking link within the northern NSW region. Kudos to @Callashandra’s husband, who isn’t an Ingress Agent yet obligingly drives the team around to their portal destinations.

• NSW 11:37 AEST
  @K656 and @W12 were in place at Orange Cinema, awaiting the instruction from their operator to drop the links. At 11:45 they received the order from @DDsD “BURN THE PLACE TO THE GROUND”.

The local resistance who owned the portal @AtheistChaplain later commented “@K656 took the Odeon down quick I never had a chance to defend”

• NSW 11:38 AEST

Agent @zziggy captures Launching Turtle in Forster (photo). At 12:02 (almost bang on schedule) @Joku links it to Forbes Wiradjuri Country Sign in Forbes (440km away) to create the first Sydney field link.  This important first link blocks any chance of interference by Resistance teams in the west.  Immediately afterwards, @Joku and @zziggy link Turtle to Culburra Post Office and the other five western portals between Bathurst and Forbes.  Shortly after, agent @drown Culburra links Culburra Post Office to five of the western portals to create a five-layer field over the Newcastle/Sydney/Wollongong metropolitan area.

Agents @Joku and @zziggy then drive to Forster’s Ocean Bath portal nearby. @Joku ADAs and Jarvises the already Enlightened portal to permit replacement of the existing shields with Link Amps, after which the final links to Culburra and Forbes portals are raised to create the sixth Sydney field layer.  With their work done in Forster, at 12:24 @Joku and @zziggy depart for Port Macquarie, ninety minutes away.  At 12:43 AEST the Culburra team departs Culburra Post Office heading an hour south to the Ulladulla Lighthouse to create the seventh layer.

intel map image taken at 14:09 AEST of Sydney and Ulladulla, NSW courtesy of @M0SES

• NSW 11:50 AEST

@darkcuddles and @sstteevvee destroy the link at Port Macquarie Sculpture Gateway that is blocking a link for the national field. Team 4 arrives as the portal is captured.

• TAS 12:00 AEST

A Resistance agent created a field covering Bruny island, between Kingston, Cockle Creek and Port Arthur.  A call was made to watch what he does and it was decided to knock out Kingston and Cockle Creek at the last minute.

• NSW 12:00 AEST

Sydney distraction team smashes the Resistance stronghold of Pyrmont and Darling Harbour. Coincidentally the Sydney Resistance team had organised a big raid on the home portals of many Enlightened players in the Inner West of Sydney, and were somewhat surprised to encounter light opposition – since many of the higher level Enlightened players were either in Pyrmont, or out in remote parts of NSW/Australia. Operation Be Loud And Break Stuff is judged a success, as none of the Sydney Resistance figured out the plan.

• NSW 12:24 AEST

The layered fields are up over Sydney/Newcastle/Wollongong. A number of players inside the field report issues with gameplay – from the map being useless for navigation to older phones being unable to handle the load of rendering the multiple layers.

• ACT 12:30 AEST

Agent @AjaxMaximus supplied ADA Refactors to agent @Darklordzoneaxe and then departed to coordinate with @Makaz for journey to Yass.  Agents @Kendr and @Iamcholder depart for Cooma. Agent @otobas departs for Braidwood via Bungendore to establish secondary target portal in Bungendore (for double fielding) and primary portal in Braidwood.

• NSW 12:30 AEST

Agents @ionno and @eidyia arrive at Forbes. They upgrade resonators on the three anchor portals for the westernmost NSW fields and wait for Resistance retaliation.

• NSW 12:30 AEST

Agent @fourfootseven and @aftos have been joined by @Simon255, and @porkkapital, now that @fourfootseven has well and truly established her location on the intel map, Sydneys inner fields almost complete, she requests that @aftos drop her off at the Sydney Command Centre hosted by @furinkan.

• TAS 12:50 AEST

Launceston agent @CraigRat drops the Bicheno-Launceston blocking link to Port Macquarie from Bruny Island and also Georgetown-Stanley blocking link to Victoria.

• ACT 13:00 AEST

Agents @AjaxMaximus and @Makaz depart for Yass after briefing @xCODEx on link protection activities for North Canberra.  Agent @otobas flips all portals in Bungendore to make way for secondary links – there was also a rather weird (i.e. creepy) portal included in the cleanup, Pansy the kewpie doll – photo: Portal image from intel map

• NSW 13:10 AEST – “Friendly Fire”

An Enlightened agent @Eb7 in Wallabadah unaware of the major operation in progress, creates a link to Tamworth that blocks the intended link from Port Macquarie to Roxby Downs. In a mad scramble to remove the block, @fourfootseven called local agent @cernunnon in Tamworth to find an ADA Refactor to flip the portal. @cernunnon didn’t have an ADA refactor, seeking out and locating a new agent to the area, @Toomuk.

• VIC 13:15 AEST

Team Shepparton arrives in Nagambie and captures the town, bringing down the blocking fields.

• VIC 13:29 AEST

Heavily defended portal in Geelong is captured with an ADA refractor – Unblocking Apollo Bay to Shepparton.Geelong Cement Museum portal destroyed to remove further links.

• ACT 13:40 AEST

Blue links appear in South Canberra and Queanbeyan, blocking Cooma from linking to Bungendore, Yass and Braidwood. Agent @Darklordzoneaxe dispatched to South Canberra. Agent @xCODEx dispatched to Queanbeyan. Interfering links neutralised 14:05 AEST.  Agent @otobas departs Bungendore for Braidwood to establish an anchor portal for Canberra fields.

• VIC 13:43 AEST

Links established:

        1. Apollo Bay to Puckapunyal (Video)

        2. Warragul to Apollo Bay

        3. Warragul to Puckapunyal – field 907,703MU

• VIC 13:50 AEST

Team Shepparton on-station. Shepparton portals have been destroyed by roaming Resistance – who were kind enough to leave everything uncaptured for AP-hungry agent @Kwana. Log Hauler is captured and prepared for linking.

• ACT 13:53 AEST

Target Yass portal established. Links established:

1. Yass to Goulburn

2. Yass to Bungendore

• ULURU, NT 13:56 AEST

Under the instruction of agent @kru, rookie level 2 agent @jzu captures the target portal Uluru (Ayers Rock) Classic S with level 1 resonators. Three multi-hack mods and one heatsink mod are deployed as the agents go into a holding pattern pending the completion of work packages by other operational teams.  Agents leave site at 14:19 AEST and prepare to return later in the day.

• VIC 14:00 AEST

After some waiting, Team Apollo Bay heads to the key linking portal, Monument Aux Morts. Our L1 has been given keys to make the primary links to Shepparton, but GPS issues on his phone cause some worry and scrambling as keys are dropped some distance from the portal, fortunately all is sorted before the blocking link in Geelong is removed,  and we are ready to go. Links established:

        1. Apollo Bay to Shepparton

        2. Shepparton to Puckapunyal

        3. Shepparton to Warragul – field 1,088,840MU

        4. Warragul to Puckapunyal

5. Shepparton to Puckapunyal- 2 fields 41,370MU and 18,106MU

6. Warragul to North Shepparton 1

7. Warragul to North Shepparton 2

intel map showing fields over Melbourne, Victoria

• ACT 14:05 AEST

Links established:

1. Cooma to Yass

2. Cooma to Bungendore

• NSW 14:06 AEST

Link established:

Ulladulla Lighthouse to Forster

• ACT 14:25 AEST

Primary portal in Braidwood established. Links established:

1. Braidwood to Goulburn

2. Yass to Braidwood

3. Cooma to Braidwood

Fields established covering all of Canberra and north of Canberra to Goulburn.

Photo: Agents @AjaxMaximus and @Makaz take time out in Yass to celebrate

Resistance agents @Taliesinsmuse (L8) and RedXMP (L8) retake Bungendore before additional links could be placed. Photo: Agent @otobas lies in wait for them to arrive in Braidwood.

mobile intel map showing fields over Canberra and much of the Australian Capital Territory

larger intel map showing simultaneous fields over Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne

• WA 14:30 AEST

Teams Jurien Bay (photo) and York assemble in position and await instruction

• SA 14:30 AEST

@Addling and @Chehazul clear Mount Compass blocking links and depart for Murray Bridge in anticipation of local Resistance establishing new blocking links. Unexpected blocking link appears from Morgan to Kapunda. @MeHz and @snowFoxi depart Adelaide to clear link.

• TAS 14:40 AEST

Huonville Hooligans take down the Ranelagh blocking links, and depart for the Resistance stronghold at Cygnet.

• TAS 14:42 AEST

Strike Force Leopard arrives at Kingston and prepare to drop the Resistance blocking links to Port Macquarie.

• TAS 14:45 AEST

Bruny Island Brawlers depart on the ferry to Bruny Island. @Aramgutang and @Xsiteresync climb the Stairway to Heaven

• NSW 14:49 AEST

Resistance agents @SkyDweller and @Kubed attack the De Havilland Vampire Fighter-Bomber portal in Forbes NSW, the west-most anchor point for the NSW State fields. They manage to destroy all Portal shields and nearly wipe out all resonators in less than 60 seconds. Agents @eidyia and @ionno notice a vehicle stopping in the road immediately next to the portal location with someone waving a mobile phone in the air, and re-check their scanners. They manage to redeploy resonators and Very Rare shields keeping the links and field up, and then continue to successfully defend the portal until the Resistance withdraw. Fourteen resonators and three Very Rare shields were deployed in defense over two frantic minutes. It is not certain that the vehicle in front of the portal was actually the Resistance agents in question, or just very serendipitous timing.

• TAS 15:00 AEST

The Hobart Hangmen Crew start running interference to keep any active local Resistance agents busy in the city.

• ACT 15:05 AEST

Resistance agents @Taliesinsmuse (L8) and RedXMP (L8) retake Braidwood so fast it didn’t even register on the scanner until it was too late (perhaps made worse by marginal reception in the area), but kindly stop for a photo.  @otobas returns to Canberra.

• SA 15:10 AEST

Resistance agent @STau deduces that a field attempt is being made and deploys blocking links from Murray Bridge to multiple locations. @Addling and @Chehazul already en route to clear in anticipation of this. @MeHz and @snowFoxi clear Kapunda blocking link.

• NSW 15:17 AEST

Resistance agents @SkyDweller and @Kubed attack and destroy the Wiradjuri Country Signpost anchor portal in Forbes, NSW. As this portal no longer held a control field, Enlightened agents are directed to disregard the attack and concentrate on defending the remaining field terminating at De Havilland Vampire Fighter-Bomber.

• TAS 15:18 AEST

Bicheno Demolition Duo (@etbe and @Jamdonut) arrive at Bicheno and enjoy the sightseeing as they prepare to defend the strategically valuable Bicheno portal.

• WA 15:40 AEST

Agent @Prawnstar links Jurien Bay Bandstand to World’s Oldest Operating Outdoor Movie. Agents @SpeedFreak and @JoeBloggs link Holy Trinity Church to Roxby Village and Statue of Makybe Diva, creating a control field 622,997 MUs. Agent @Joe Bloggs, @SpeedFreak and @Yapapi create remaining links from Holy Trinity Church to Paddy Hannan Memorial Statue and Jurien Bay Bandstand.

• TAS 15:30 AEST

Huonville Hooligans seize the town of Cygnet and take a defensive stance.

• NSW 15:33 AEST

Tamworth agent @Toomuk called @fourfootseven to see how they could help. @Toomuk agreed to by on standby to use an ADA refactor on the friendly blocking link till the Port Macquarie team was ready to make the link to Roxby Downs.

• NSW 15:33 AEST

An ADA Refactor is used against De Havilland Vampire Fighter-Bomber by Resistance agent @SkyDweller, destroying the last large NSW Enlightened state field. The Enlightened future has been held back for another day… or has it?

• NSW 15:34 AEST

Agent @eidyia uses a JARVIS Virus on De Havilland Vampire Fighter-Bomber purely out of light hearted rivalry.

• NSW 15:38 AEST

An ADA virus is used against De Havilland Vampire Fighter-Bomber by Resistance agent @Kubed. The previous use the rare JARVIS Virus item seemed to have the unexpected effect of Resistance agents believing that the portal was of continued critical strategic significance to the Enlightened mission. Resistance agents create a link to a local portal in Forbes, Big 4 Forbes Holiday Caravan Park.

• NSW 15:39 AEST

Agents @ionno and @eidyia are bemused at the use of two ADA viruses, but concerned about link creation.  They try to unload their inventories as quickly and explosively as possible.

Several other links were created by Resistance at this time, including a long blocking ghost link to the Three Sisters Walk portal in the Blue Mountains. The ghost link was still there 36 hours later despite recapture of De Havilland Vampire Fighter-Bomber by Enlightened agents.

48 Resistance resonators were destroyed, and the portal neutralised three times before agent @ionno recaptured.  Nine Enlightened resonators were destroyed and redeployed until Resistance agents withdrew and regrouped at 15:51 AEST to attack and capture nearby Lake Forbes Fountain.

• TAS 15:40 AEST

Tas Ops Manager @XSITEexergamer and agent @TheMirror leave for Bruny Island to assist the Bruny Island Brawlers in creating the L8 Stairway to Heaven portal (photo)

• SA 15:42 AEST

Resistance agent @STau deploys blocking links from Tailem Bend, forcing agent @XxInvictus to deploy the link Meningie Lions Jubilee Park to Hog Bay Anchor ahead of schedule and depart for Tailem Bend. @Addling departs for Tailem Bend while @Chehazul sets up camp in Murray Bridge to deal with any further blocking links.

• NSW 15:55 AEST

Agents @sstteevvee and @DarkCuddles create a link-breaking team, with @sstteevvee passing the keys he is carrying to @RoboticBotox. The remaining six agents meet at Tacking Point Lighthouse, with agent @hardwire as communications officer.

The link-breakers park at a T-intersection, waiting to hear whether or not they need to go on a twenty minute drive to Wauchope, to destroy the links off the Timbertown portal.  Eventually the all-clear on Wauchope is given, and they proceed to Port Macquarie’s town centre.  There they await further instructions. Agent @DarkCuddles is communications officer.

• TAS 16:00 AEST

Photo: Cockle Creek Carnage Crew arrive at the Southernmost portal in Australia and open a bottle of wine to begin post-op celebrations (that’s what they’d have us believe at any rate)

• NSW 16:18 AEST

@fourfootseven called Tamworth Agent @Toomuk and asked him to go to the portal holding the blocking link and @Toomuk successfully destroyed the link minutes before the national link was made. The link was from Alexander Memorial in Wallabadah to WWII Memorial in Tamworth.

• SA 16:18 AEST

@XxInvictus arrives in Tailem Bend to clear blocking links, only to find Resistance agent @STau waiting for him. An incredible battle ensues in the heavy rain with the Tailem Bend War Memorial portal being flipped four times by viruses in the process. @XxInvictus prevails, and holds control of the portal for long enough to ensure @pondy can link from Clare to Meningie, @xsiteresync can link from Tasmania to Roxby Downs, @fleshy can link from Shepparton to Roxby Downs and @Fustian can link from Apollo Bay to Roxby Downs. @pondy links Little Red Grape, Clare to both Hog Bay Anchor, Kangaroo Island and Meningie Lions Jubilee Club, creating the first of four Clare-based fields for a total of 451,723 Mind Units.

• VIC 16:23 AEST

With Tailem Bend in Enlightened hands, Team Apollo Bay links to Roxby Downs. The big picture is now starting to form, with Roxby linked to Victoria and Western Australia! Team Shepparton also makes links to Roxby Downs from North Shepparton. Despite being over 1km wide, the field to Roxby looks like a single link. To celebrate, Team Shepparton pauses with Soccer Cow for a celebratory photo.

Links established:

        1. Shepparton to Apollo Bay

        2. Shepparton to Roxby Downs

        3. Apollo Bay to Roxby Downs  – field 1,384,744 MU

• NSW 16:24 AEST

The De Havilland Vampire Fighter-Bomber portal in Forbes, NSW is again attacked by Resistance agents @SkyDweller and @Kubed with XMPs, and successfully defended by Enlightened agents @eidyia and @ionno, who are kicking back in the wonderful late afternoon sunshine and watching on with glee at the links going up around the rest of the country.

• NSW 16:24 AEST

Agents @Joku and @fruitcup apply ADA refactors and JARVIS viruses on both Tacking Point Lighthouse and Tacking Point Compass portals to gain control so they can replace existing shields with two link amps on each. The rest of the Port Macquarie team upgrades the portals to L8.

• TAS 16:25 AEST

Agent @xciteresync applies ADA refactors and Jarvis viruses on the Bruny Island Stairway to Heaven portal, as agents @XSITEexergamer and @Aramgutang upgrade it to create an L8 portal. Note that the first L8 portal in Tasmania was created by the Enlightened only the day prior. (photo)

• TAS 16:25 AEST

Tasmanian Operator temporarily ‘abandons’ his post to ADA the Rosebery portal to remove the precautionary blocking link across the state.

• TAS 16:26 AEST

Strike Force Leopard takes down the Kingston Resistance blocking links and begin taking the town.

• TAS 16:28 AEST

Cockle Creek Carnage Crew take down the Resistance blocking link to King Island. (photo)(video)

• TAS 16:32 AEST

Blocking Links from Rosebery are dropped by the Tasmanian Operator.

• SA 16:32-16:39 AEST

Agent @pondy completes the four layer field between Clare, Kangaroo Island and Meningie covering all of metropolitan Adelaide for 1,839,260 MU.

intel screenshot showing fields covering Adelaide, South Australia

• TAS 16:40 AEST

Agent @xsiteresync links Stairway to Heaven, Tasmania to Roxby Downs, SA. @xsiteresync links Stairway to Heaven, Tasmania to Statue of Makybe Diva, SA. @xsiteresync links Stairway to Heaven, Tasmania to Tacking Point Compass, NSW. @xsiteresync links Stairway to Heaven, Tasmania to Tacking Point Lighthouse, NSW. @TheMirror, @XSITEexergamer and @Aramgutang create links to Penneshaw Water Plaque, SA & Dunedin, New Zealand, what wonderfully curved links they were too! In between those links, there was a narrow field of 14,497 MU (presumably Mackerel Units).

• SA 16:40 AEST

Agent @CVLF removes shields from Roxby Village and attempts to deploy four Link Amplifiers for the final links. The first Link Amplifier deploys correctly, but devastatingly his inventory is beset by some form of scanner glitch, forcing his additional Link Amplifiers to display ITEM_DOES_NOT_EXIST errors upon application to the portal, whilst still reducing his supply with each attempt. He attempts this several times, until he has no additional Link Amplifiers, having gone from eight to three, with only one deployed on the portal. @SounderAU, the backup Roxby Downs agent, is notified that he will be needed as soon as possible, but he is still at work at Olympic Dam, some distance away.

• NSW 16:42 AEST

Agents @RoboticBotox and @Joku link Tacking Point Compass to Roxby Downs Village. While awaiting instructions to create remaining links, agents realise that the Tacking Point portals are under attack. Agents @tanyak and @fruitcup explore the area to find the attackers. Agent @fruitcup discovers them in a car parked out-of-sight nearby and persuades them to stop attacking, since the Enlightened would defend until all planned fields have gone up. The agents turn out to be local Resistance members @anouke, @Saltyplum and @chaosduck, who leave their vehicle and meet with us. We engage in friendly cross-faction conversation as the sun sets and the temperature drops.  They agree to leave and return after the rest of the national fields have been created.

• NSW 16:56 AEST

Agents @darkcuddles and @sstteevvee clear blocking links between L1 portals in Port Macquarie, near Town Beach Lookout and Flagstaff portals.

• NSW 17:11 AEST

Original plan was to link Tacking Point Lighthouse to Whale Sculpture on Hamilton Island. With Pine creek and Roxby Downs to link to both Whale Sculpture on Hamilton Island and Hamilton Island Yacht Club.

A slight error in communication and documentation resulting in @RoboticBotox using the backup keys of Hamilton Island Yacht Club, preventing the planned double layered field from Pine Creek to Hamilton Island and to Roxby Downs.

Orders were given to link Tacking Point Lighthouse to Whale Sculpture on Hamilton Island. A sliver of a field was created.

• NSW 17:29 AEST

Agent @Joku links Tacking Point Lighthouse to Tacking Point Compass to seal the multi-field. Agents @darkcuddles and @sstteevvee rejoin the other agents at Tacking Point Lighthouse, and with all their links completed, while waiting for the final links the agents hack the portals so that everyone has a key for each, to allow remote recharging. The agents leave the location and begin their journey back to Sydney at 18:10.

• ULURU 17:27 AEST

Agents @c79, @jzu and @kru drive back to Uluru from nearby Yulara (timelapse video, 35mb).  Using a sequence of ADA and JARVIS flips, the portal Uluru (Ayers Rock) Classic S is made level 8.  Prior mods are removed and then four Link Amplifiers applied.  Links are then made to:

1. Jurien Bay Bandstand (Jurien Bay, WA) – @c79 17:24 AEST

2. World’s Oldest Operating Outdoor Movie (Broome WA)

3. Paddy Hannan Memorial Statue (Kalgoorlie WA) – @jzu 17:25 AEST

4. Pine Creek Museum (Pine Creek NT) – @kru 17:27 AEST

5. Roxby Village (Roxby Downs SA) – @jzu 17:30 AEST

6. Roxby Village (Roxby Downs SA) – @kru 17:40 AEST

Photo: Scanner screenshot while creating links

• NT 17:30 AEST

Having been patiently waiting in Pine Creek for some time watching the action of the southern parts of Australia the call is made for @farmerjo11 links Pine Creek Museum to World’s Oldest Operating Outdoor Movie. Agent @farmerjo11 links Pine Creek Museum to both Hamilton Island Yacht Club and Whale Sculpture on Hamilton Island, our longest links of 1957km each, creating a control field of only 31 MUs.

• WA 17:30 AEST

Agent @Prawnstar links Jurien Bay Bandstand to Paddy Hannan Memorial Statue creating two control fields 35416 MU and Undetermined MUs. (photo)

• SA 19:36 AEST

Agent @SounderAU arrives in Roxby Downs and proceeds to link Roxby Village to Paddy Hannan Memorial Statue, creating a control field of 29738 MUs. @SounderAU then links Roxby Village to Whale Sculpture on Hamilton Island, creating two control fields respectively worth 382,348 and 5,566,344 MU.
YouTube video of agent arriving in Roxby Downs:  @SounderAu in Roxby Downs

• TAS 20:30 AEST

Agents begin gathering at Jack Greene in Salamanca Place, Hobart, for celebratory food, beer, wine and beer (photo).

• NSW 20:30

Port Macquarie Agents pause at Taree rest top on their way home to Sydney to celebrate their team’s success (photo).

• QLD 20:30 AEST

@mtac interrupts the wedding dinner to show newly married @gvd and @knuffie that the sky is an enlightened green. Appropriately the wedding celebration concludes with a Thai floating lantern beautifully symbolising the Enlightenment (photo).

Special Features

(aka, plans that didn’t succeed, were thwarted or potential points of failure)

Curved Links

Concerns were raised at one point when basic mapping tools implied a rather long proposed link may not be possible (i.e. blue links blocking).  The concern was noted by operators and tools that take into account curvature of the Earth were consulted to recheck the link would be successful.  The field agent was thus assured the link would be possible without any need to deviate 45 mins for link-breaking activities. Projections are awesome fun. This was many of the participants’ first Ingress experience where curvature of the earth, as mapped onto a 2D plane, became a consideration.

Inventory Bug

Team Roxby (@CVLF) inventory issues – including remote tech support via the operation’s command and control centre – and the various troubleshooting methods attempted (clear app cache, force stop, etc).  This graduated to brainstorming possible workarounds (even “recruit a stranger on the spot” was considered!). The eventual solution was a backup operative – another level 2 agent, @SounderAU – who unfortunately could not get to the portal until after finishing his 12–hour work shift at Olympic Dam, a nearby mine, in order to complete the final fields.

The Prevelly WA Extension

Team Prevelly – @TheDarkfire @AnneDromeda and @JCLittleRed – were unable to receive keys from @public in time to link Prevelly to Port Lincoln and York, thus covering the entire SW of Australia, nor to Jurien Bay WA, meaning Perth CBD wasn’t covered. Communication in an area of poor phone coverage and blocking links proved too problematic.

Unexpected York Block and Cobram Block

Agent @public was also unable to link Prevelly to York due to series of blocking links and fields near Bunbury, WA. Additionally, @public was unable to link to Port Lincoln due to a blocking link sent to Albany from York.

Team Shepparton was unable to link up to Griffith and Canberra due to fields in Cobram.

Random Drop + Blind Road Trip

After collecting keys on the Forbes road trip (collecting keys for the Sydney field), keys obtained were regularly transferred to a single agent.  During one of these transfers the agent dropping one vital key of a pair had their scanner’s GPS drop out between pressing the “OPS” button, and telling the key to “Drop”.  The phone had gone back to cellular tower triangulation location, and the agent briefly saw the key land in a random street of a town we were completely unfamiliar with, before snapping back to the true location as the GPS regained a lock.  The key was eventually recovered by turning GPS off, crossing our fingers, waiting for the phone to drift back near where the key was, tap-and-hold on the map to “target location”, then turning GPS back on again – so began the infamous “blind road trip”.  The key turned out to be 2km away and was soon safely retrieved.

Enemy Agent in the Open

During the Forbes road trip (collecting keys for the Sydney field), we had planned to collect keys for one of the easternmost portals in Orange, which was currently held by the Resistance.  As we pulled up beside the park, we noticed a person standing in the middle of it, in the classic Ingress pose: head down, looking at phone.  We continued around the block, parked some distance away, and debated what to do next.  The Resistance agent remained unaware of us, and we eventually decided to abandon getting keys from that portal, and move onto some others in the middle of town instead.  Our agent then captured those portals which we farmed for keys, leaving just as the Resistance agent we noticed earlier arrived to start attacking the portals we had just taken.

Request to Visur Tech

Very Rare link amps please.

Aurora Australis Falls

After the final field was created at 19:38 AEST, the full Australian field stood for seven minutes before Port Macquarie Resistance agents used an ADA Refactor on Tacking Point Compass and Tacking Point Lighthouse, at 19:45 AEST.

July 6th

• NSW 19:45 AEST

Port Macquarie, NSW: Resistance agents @anouke, @Saltyplum and @Chaosduck use ADA Refactors to take down Tacking Point Lighthouse and Tacking Point Compass. This removes links to Hamilton Island, Tasmania and Roxby Downs. See appendix for their detailed action report.

• WA 20:15 AEST

Resistance agents @Worros and @Senectus take out major links at Jurien Bay Bandstand and Holy Trinity Church in Western Australia.

• SA 22:16 AEST

Resistance agent @Angelicgal destroys seven resonators on Statue of Makybe Diva. Given that:

• Prior to July 6th, this area of South Australia had zero active players of either faction
• This location is at least 7.5 hours drive from the nearest population centre
• No South Australian players on either faction recognise the agent ID @Angelicgal
• It is not reasonable for @Angelicgal to reach a level capable of destroying this portal’s resonators and yet never be seen in any intel notifications within South Australia.
• @Angelicgal did not respond to direct contact messages in COMMS, from either faction.
• A report was submitted to Niantic with this evidence, by the South Australian Enlightened agents that were involved in Operation Aurora Australis.

• ULURU 22:53 to 22:57 AEST

• The Uluru portal is remote.  Like, very remote.  The nearest cities are –

• 25hrs non-stop drive southward from Darwin, Northern Territory; and,
• 17hrs non-stop drive northward from Adelaide, South Australia.

• The Uluru National Park itself closes at 19:30 ACST (20:00 AEST); it is not permitted to enter the park after hours and there is no camping allowed, given the sacred Aboriginal sites within the park.
• At 22:27 ACST (22:57 AEST) – only 5hrs after Enlightened capture it – Resistance agent “@maccione” attacked the Uluru portal well after the park closed, taking down the portal and the majority of the fields created by the Aurora Australis operation.  A single L8 resonator was then deployed along with a heatsink.
• Members of both factions attempted to get a response from @maccione but no response appeared in All Chat and Resistance agents confirmed no responses appeared in their Faction Chat, either.
• It is believed the only way for an Ingress player to attack this portal within hours of it going up, at night when the national park gates had been closed for hours, was to trespass, or much more likely “spoof” their location, i.e. cheat.
• A report was submitted to Niantic with full evidence (mobile and desktop intel screenshots) by the Enlightened agents that capped the Uluru portal earlier in the day.

It is the combined hope of both Enlightened and Resistance that the accounts of agent IDs @maccione and @Angelicgal be deleted by Google/Niantic and the names blocked from future usage, as an example to others who may consider cheating in the future.

July 7th

• TAS 12:00 AEST

Resistance Agent @Maindog uses an ADA Refactor to take out Stairway to Heaven.

• SA 11:45 AEST

Resistance agent @Moneydork uses an ADA Refactor on Roxby Village.

Appendix I – Portal Index

– Portals mentioned in this document, alphabetically –

Alexander Memorial

Bathurst and District Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park  

Big 4 Forbes Holiday Caravan Park

BMX, Tennis & Equestrian

Botanic Garden Entrance by Stuart Griffith

Culburra Post Office

Cyclone Tracy Twisted Poles

De Havilland Vampire Fighter-Bomber 

Forster Ocean Bath

Gold Panner Man

Gold Park

Hamilton Island Yacht Club

Holy Trinity Church

Jurien Bay Bandstand

Lake Forbes Fountain

Launching Turtle

Log Hauler

Makybe Diva Statue

North East Valley War Memorial

Paddy Hannan Memorial Statue

Pansy the kewpie doll

Penneshaw Water Plaque

Pine Creek Museum

Reform Mine

Roxby Village

Sir Thomas Mitchell

Soccer Cow

Stairway To Heaven

Tacking Point Compass

Tacking Point Lighthouse

Three Sisters Walk

Timbertown
Ulladulla Lighthouse

Uluru (Ayers Rock) – Classic S

Vampire Fighter

Whale Sculpture on Hamilton Island

Wiradjuri Country Signpost

World’s Oldest Operating Outdoor Movie

WWII Memorial

Intel links not yet provided at time of document release –

Cockle Creek Whale
Monument Aux Morts.

Hog Bay Anchor

Little Red Grape

Meningie Lions Jubilee Park

Tailem Bend War Memorial

Flagstaff

Town Beach Lookout

Appendix II – Operation Glowing Ogre (NZ)

This is the New Zealand Aurora Australis Operation Documentation compiled and published separately on 8th July 2013

NZ Agents involved:

NZ Link Makers:

Manukau Heads: @smebro, @onevia, @ninox, @NikiG, @130spectre

Carterton: @gonefishing @yeetrees @macgyverism

Nelson: @Chevron7

Kaikoura: @Maximinus

Akaroa: @TwistedDemon, @Si76, @antlion

NZ Link Breakers:

Top of the South: @insertaliashere

Southland: @Spectralknight, @Lazybumble, @Jumpgate, @Smizmo, @Do31n8a

Palmerston North: @sPiel, @id6fwa89, @JebusNZ

Wellington: @BASNZ

Hamilton: @Chaosdesign (at @Skavins request), @Talden, @wigglor, @arkique

NZ Operators:

National:

@k1000716 (overall coordinator 11.20am-5pm)

South Island:

@insertaliashere (troubleshooter and bonus field operator)

@Maximinus, @TwistedDemon

@SkronkyBite (5pm onwards in support of trans-tasman link clearing)

NZ Agents who claimed critical portals prior to Aurora Australis:

NZ Agents who delivered keys between major cities:

NZ Agents who made dedicated trips to collect keys from out in the field:

NZ Agents who contributed keys, mods, viruses and other inventory/ideas:

NZ Path clearers and standby agents:

NZ Worthy Resistance adversaries:

Carterton: @farmboy 

Akaroa: @rediguana

Operation Glowing Ogre (NZ) Activity log:

April 11th

Proposal initially fielded to cover Wellington in a single large field anchored in Wanganui, Pongoroa and Kaikoura.

April 12th

Proposal updated to a two field configuration anchored in Wanganui, Nelson, Carterton and Kaikoura.

April 16th

Creation of Ingress Enlightened NZ (Special Ops) community to securely discuss and plan national level operations.

April 26th

@fourfootseven contacts @k1000716 regarding trans-tasman cooperation. Introduced to several communities to foster closer relations.

May 4th

@adrenalinenz Travels from Wellington to Nelson to collect keys.

May 5th

@JoryDJ420 and @JoeythegirlNZ travel from Wanganui to Feilding and deliver Kaikoura keys collected on April 16th.

May 7th

Proposal update based on suggestions from @syphus. New proposal introduces links to Auckland and Christchurch, creating layered fields for boosted MU gain. Later updated to reflect Manakau Heads Lighthouse thanks to @vrtigo.

May 12th

@Evolias uplifts Kaikoura keys from @k1000716, delivering them to Wellington

June 1st

@chevron7 travels to Christchurch to deliver Nelson keys.

June 7th

@BASNZ captures Wanganui portal in transit.

June 9th

@BASNZ upgrades and shields Wanganui portal. @k1000716 takes over maintenance, recharging daily..

June 20th

@BASNZ Travels to Auckland and delivers Nelson key.

June 22nd

@Maximinus, in Melbourne for a conference, attempts to deliver numerous South Island keys.  Stifled by global inventory issues.

June 23rd

@Maximinus finally manages to make the key drop in Melbourne.

June 26th

@Evolias travels to Auckland and delivers Carterton and Wanganui keys. Picks up Rotorua keys for delivery to Wellington.

June 29th

@Maximinus and @TwistedDemon travel from Christchurch to Akaroa. Hacking with the use of the new mods gains 13 keys.

July 2nd

@TwistedDemon updates @Lazybumble on Trans-Tasman plan and Portals.

@Lazybumble coordinates Dunedin Enlightened agents for July 5th Lower South Island link clearance operation.

July 4th Final update of Operation Glowing Ogre made. Event created with full details.

23:00 NZST: @insertaliashere heads to Westport and Greymouth, creating a large field to Wakefield as a diversion for the Christchurch RE.

July 5th

Waikato teams consisting of @Chaosdesign (at @Skavins request), @Talden, @wigglor and @arkique cleared all blocking links between the Manukau Heads Lighthouse and Rotorua to enable the creation of bonus fields.

Palmerston North agents @sPiel and @JebusNZ cleared four blocking links to enable the bonus Rotorua fields. Two links were left standing to prevent any immediate RE retaliation.

19:00 NZST: @Spectralknight and @Lazybumble hack Botanic Garden Entrance portal and acquire portal key necessary for link from NEV War Memorial. Use of ADA virus technology to clear blocking link Akaroa-Dunedin Botanical Gardens. Create link North East Valley War Memorial and Botanic Garden Entrance by Stuart Griffiths.

20:30 NZST: @Spectralknight and @Lazybumble arrive in Palmerston to remove blocking links from Palmerston south to Dunedin (Taieri Plains Lookout) and Palmerston to Herbert Great War Memorial.

21:00 NZST: @insertaliashere visits Christchurch and provides @TwistedDemon with West Coast keys for a potential bonus field between Akaroa, Nelson and the West Coast.

22:00 NZST: @Spectralknight destroys link Winton to Hampden Great War Memorial. Alerted by portal neutralised notifications, we encountered Mosgiel Resistance activity linking into Oamaru.

22:30 NZST: @Spectralknight and @Lazybumble arrive in Oamaru to remove new blocking links from RE agents. Accomplished clearing Central Otago and Dunedin of blocking links.

23:00 NZST: The Westport, Greymouth, Wakefield field is destroyed by the Nelson RE and @Chevron7 reinstates the Wakefield portal in case it can be used after Glowing Ogre.

The Christchurch RE create large blocking links from White Cliffs near Methven.

23:50 NZST: Operation Glowing Ogre hangouts created.  

July 6th

04:00 NZST: @insertaliashere removes the portals at the centre of the White Cliffs blocking links. Very poor network coverage and in the middle of a storm he chose to virus it rather than take it down with bursters and suffer the weather.

09:00 NZST: @insertaliashere claims Darfield in order to continue the distraction for RE.

10:00 NZST: @Maximinus, @TwistedDemon, @Si76, @antlion and @insertaliashere meet at Victoria Square.  Final gear trades to ensure that everyone had not only the keys, but the XMP bursters and viruses that they would need.  Double-checked for any new blocking links, planned bonus fields and assigned agents their targets to allow the bonus fields to be made.

11:00 NZST: Akaroa and Kaikoura teams depart Christchurch.

11:15 NZST: Akaroa team at CPIT to remove blocking links by green portals using ADA’s, then destroy and rebuild portals as green but not fully deploying so it can’t be re-linked

11:45 NZST: Akaroa team arrive at Westlake Park in South Christchurch to destroy Resistance blocking links, again deploying but not fully to prevent linking to them.

12:15 NZST: Akaroa team arrive at Halswell Quarry in Christchurch to remove final blocking links, using ADA’s to flip the portals then redeploying again, not fully. Ran into local RE who questioned why they were there, so advised it was a key drop for low level EN agents (luckily nearby).

12:35 NZST: Akaroa team depart for Akaroa.

13:00 NZST:

@Maximinus arrives in Cheviot and farms the portals.  Contemplated destroying the sole intact RE portal, to prevent any new blocking links – but after conferring with other agents decided to leave it in order to avoid alerting RE.

13:10 NZST: @130spectre and @NikiG leave Auckland CBD enroute to Manukau Heads Lighthouse.

13:30 NZST: The Carterton team depart Wellington. Their primary objective was to complete the Glowing Ogre fields.  The secondary objective was to provide opportunities for levelling up @macgyverism, who started the day on 0AP.

13:40 NZST: Akaroa team arrive in Akaroa Township in time for some lunch. Found an unclaimed portal, which was left as to not arouse the smurfs.

13:55 NZST: @macgyverism captures Rimutaka Hill Summit Plaque enroute to Carterton. Due to virtually non-existent cell coverage they were unable to upgrade the portal once captured.

14:00 NZST: Akaroa team departed township for target portal as a message was received that RE were in the area (false alarm).

14:14 NZST: @macgyverism captures Wind Sticks in Featherston enroute to Carterton.

14:15 NZST: @ninox arrives at Manukau Heads Lighthouse.

14:20 NZST: Akaroa team arrive at portal.

14:30 NZST: @130spectre and @NikiG arrive at Manukau Heads Lighthouse. @Maximinus arrives in Kaikoura and locates Whale Mural (Pot Belly Café) portal.

14:35 NZST: Akaroa team install 4 link amps to test for link distance (and curiosity).

14:40 NZST: Carterton team arrive at Rooftop Moa Sculpture portal in Carterton. The existing EN portal is upgraded and shielded. Instructions given to all teams to capture and upgrade portals, then to hold for linking instructions.

14:45 NZST: @130spectre, @NikiG, and @ninox capture the Manukau Heads Lighthouse portal. Multihacks installed and they begin hacking for keys to enable recharging (the portal is very remote, and 90 mins drive from Auckland CBD). @Maximinus captures and upgrades Whale Mural (Pot Belly Café) portal.

14:53 NZST: Only 3 of the 5 L8 players have so far arrived at Manukau Heads Lighthouse portal (4 were required to have enough linking distance). @k1000716’s stress levels skyrocket and call is made to flip the portal with an ADA, then back with a Jarvis, allowing two L8s to deploy another R8.

14:57 NZST: @NikiG uses an ADA on the Manukau Heads Lighthouse portal.

14:58 NZST: @130spectre uses a Jarvis on the Manukau Heads Lighthouse portal.

14:59 NZST: @NikiG and @ninox deploy additional R8s, Manukau Heads Lighthouse portal now has enough range.

14.59 NZST: @gonefishing creates links from Carterton to Fejek Kertje (Wanganui), First Rugby Match (Nelson) and Akaroa. @Maximinus stands around drinking coffee at Whale Mural (Pot Belly Café), patiently waiting.

15:00 NZST: Manukau Heads Lighthouse portal team awaiting linking instructions. No sign of @smebro or @onevia yet.

15:04 NZST: @Maximinus creates link from Whale Mural (Pot Belly Café) to Tawiri Matea (Akaroa). Field created with a gain of 104202MU.

15:08 NZST: Akaroa team instructed to create links First Rugby Match (Nelson) and Carterton. Signal problems in Akaroa meant this process took 8 minutes! Two overlapping fields were created with a total MU gain of 324874 (220672 + 104202).

15:08 NZST: @chevron7 instructed to create link from First Rugby Match (Nelson) to Whale Mural (Pot Belly Café) in Kaikoura. South Island layered fields were achieved with a total gain of 695449MU.

Extra links for improved defence then created.

15:14 NZST: @NikiG creates links from Manukau Heads Lighthouse to Carterton and Fejek Kertje (Wanganui). Nelson key still enroute with @smebro, expected imminently.

15:15 NZST: Discover that @onevia and @smebro had car trouble, still 45 minutes away.

15:19 NZST: @macgyverism captures Carterton Memorial portal,, about 100m up the road from Rooftop Moa.  Portal left as a L1 “sentinel” portal to alert for RE attack.

15:30 NZST: @NikiG creates two links from Manukau Heads Lighthouse to Rotorua.

@Chevron7 heads to Wakefield and together with @insertaliashere establishes an additional field to Darfield and Greymouth for a total of 32041MU.

15:36 NZST: Fields from Tawiri Matea (Akaroa) start behaving oddly, flickering in and out. Stress levels skyrocket.

15:37 NZST: While Akaroa team make secondary links to Greymouth for a bonus field, they received a message saying, “somethings wrong, the fields gone”(we had a bad signal so it took awhile for ingress to show this).

15:38 NZST: @Maximinus confirms that RE agent @rediguana destroyed the Whale Mural (Pot Belly Café) to Tawiri Matea (Akaroa) link. @TwistedDemon clarifies that the portal was flipped by RE agent @rediguana who had parked in the middle of the road beneath the portal and scampered up the hill till he was in range to ADA it. @Rediguana and and fellow RE agent @nightwlf then drove up to the car park and walked down to the portal, destroying the again flipped portal before we could relink it. Shortly after, RE agents join EN agents at the portal.

The decision was made to get @chevron7 in Nelson to use a backup plan to link elsewhere to complete the field, under the control of @insertaliashere.

@rediguana then said, since they’d ruined the portal, why not make a level 8 green portal for farming, but it will be destroyed if its linked again. Two heat sinks and two multi hacks later the Akaroa team started the 28 hack farming session on a green level 8 portal.

15:45 NZST: The previously solid Manukau Heads Lighthouse cell signal is now quite intermittent. Difficulties with Ingress and sending/receiving chat as a result.

15:49 NZST:  @id6fwa89 makes an emergency dash to clear the final two blocking links to enable the bonus Rotorua fields.

15:50 NZST: @gonefishing completes the Carterton-Rotorua links to create the two additional overlapping fields, with a total MU gain of 561226 (280441+ 280785).

15:55 NZST: The Carterton sentinel portal is neutralised and Rooftop Moa comes under attack by Masterton-based RE agent @farmboy.  While @yeetrees defends the portal with recharging, @gonefishing goes looking for @farmboy to distract and engage him in conversation.  He is spotted across the road and engaged in friendly banter. Soon after he gives up claiming low XM and low battery.

15:59 NZST: @onevia and @smebro arrive at Manukau Heads Lighthouse.

16:00 NZST: @Maximinus creates several defensive links to Christchurch, captures the remaining Kaikoura portals and heads home.

16:05 NZST: @macgyversim recaptures Carterton Memorial portal for AP. @smebro creates the link from Manukau Heads Lighthouse to Nelson, after getting sufficient cell reception. Field created for a total 365585MU. Final North Island total MU gain is 951368 (365585 + 24557 + 280441+ 280785). Total gain for the operation is 1646817MU (unfortunately not concurrent).

16:14 NZST: Carterton team heads back to Wellington.

16:30 NZST: Manukau Heads Lighthouse agents take photos and sign the lighthouse visitors log.

16:55 NZST: Agents leave Manukau Heads Lighthouse (5pm closing time).

17:00 NZST: Akaroa team left the portal after finishing hacking, while RE continued. As they left the RE flipped the portal blue, so the team neutralised it. @Rediguana then complained that he hadn’t finished his hack yet. (oh well)

17:05 NZST: @SkronkyBite comes online to assist coordination after @k1000716 suffers computer issues(soon resolved) and real life issues (unable to provide continued full-time support).

17:19 NZST: @Maximinus stops in Cheviot, and receives a message from @Chevron7 suggesting another field between Cheviot, Kaikoura and Nelson.  The portals are captured and the field created with a gain of 10669 MU.

18:24 NZST: @Maximinus stops in Amberley, takes a couple of the portals to destroy some RE fields that went up during the operation, then continues home.

20:04 NZST: First trans-Tasman link goes up.  Everybody on the edges of their seats, waiting for the next link to complete the field.

20:10 NZST: Second trans-Tasman link goes up, completing the field for a total MU gain of 14497.  Intel map shows the field sitting outside the links which created it, due to links following Great Circle arcs, while the fields are drawn as “straight-line” triangles.

intel map showing curved links between Tasmania and New Zealand, courtesy of @Maximinus

22:00 NZST: @insertaliashere continues to add fields Oxford, Darfield and working with @TwistedDemon adds Darfield back into the mix after it is captured by the RE.

23:30 NZST: @insertaliashere adds another West Coast, Wakefield, Amberley field.  All West Coast fields are destroyed by the RE by 1am

July 7th

07:30 NZST: @Chevron7 recaptures Wakefield portal.  @insertaliashere and @Chevron7 reestablish a field between Wakefield, Culverden and Greymouth (26,734mu)

08:00-20:00 NZST: @insertaliashere continues to build fields on his way home. Culverden to Richmond Currie Pavillion.  Then Kaikoura to Currie Pavillion, Kaikoura to Amberley (1684MU), Ward to Currie and Kaikoura (19.945MU), Seddon to Currie (7375MU), Blenheim to Currie (5971MU + 2291MU).

intel map showing large Enlightened fields over New Zealand

Appendix III – Summary of Key Couriering for National and International fields

Below is a summary of key movements, as there have been several questions about this area of the operation.  In the interest of brevity, keys that were not used in the operation have not been documented here.  After all, we’ll surely be using them sometime soon.

Roxby Downs keys

Local agents to Roxby Downs are FIFO (fly in / fly out) employees, as is the nature of work in that town. Many of them have flown keys to Adelaide and have met with Adelaide Agent @Nels90210.

 @Nels90210 flew to Sydney and met with and gave several Roxby Downs keys to –

• @RoboticBotox, who later passed keys to –

• @Sheddy for Pine Creek, NT
• @Roj667 for the transfer to Apollo Bay, SA and Shepparton, Vic
• @fourfootseven who passed keys to

• @rarr for transfer to York, WA
• @kru for use in Uluru, NT

• @Aramgutang, who travelled to Tasmania for the operation

Pine Creek keys

Local agents to Darwin, @Snitz, @Letsgomurphys and @420budz drove to Pine Creek to hack for keys. All keys are given to @Snitz, who met with and gave Pine Creek keys to @Sheddy.

@Sheddy has two stopovers in Sydney on her way from Darwin to New Zealand, and back. During one stopover @Sheddy meets with @RoboticBotox –

• @Sheddy received keys for Roxby Downs & Hamilton Island
• @RoboticBotox received keys for Pine Creek

Hamilton Island keys

Sydney Agent @owl had a holiday in Hamilton Island, there he hacked for keys and brought them back with him to Sydney. In Sydney @owl met with @Aramgutang to transfer all Hamilton Island keys. @Aramgutang then met with –

• @RoboticBotox who passed keys to @Sheddy for transfer to Pine Creek, NT.
• @fourfootseven who passed keys to @sstteevvee for transfer to Port Macquarie, NSW.
• @Nels90210 who passed keys to @Nightshade13 for transfer to Roxby Downs, SA.

Port Macquarie keys

@Sh4p3r visits Port Macquarie and meets with @Yeebok and @fourfootseven, who all hack for keys at Tacking Point Compass and Tacking Point Lighthouse. All hacked keys are passed to @Sh4p3r who returns to Sydney and meets with –

• @Aramgutang who passed keys to

• @Nels90210 for transfer to Roxby Downs, SA.

• @Aramgutang who travelled to Tasmania

Kangaroo Island and Port Lincoln, SA keys

• Kangaroo Island agent @goingfission hacks keys and then travels to Adelaide to meet with @Nels90210.
• Port Lincoln agent @Loki6969 hacks keys and also travels to Adelaide to meet with @Nels90210.
• @Nels90210 then flies to Sydney and meets –

• @Aramgutang, who travelled to Tasmania with the Kangaroo Island keys
• @fourfootseven, who passed Port Lincoln keys to

• @rarr for transfer to York, WA.

York, Kalgoorlie, & Jurien WA keys

Perths BFG field meant that Perth Agents still had keys left over from York, Kalgoorlie and Jurien Bay Band Stand. Perth Agents @YNEMA and @Public met with –

• @Kudrakalliope who flew to Melbourne and passed keys to –

• @Roj667, who flew to Sydney and met with @RoboticBotox

• @RoboticBotox met with –

• @Nels90210 who passed keys to –

• York and Kalgoorlie, to @Nightshade13 for Roxby Downs, SA.
• Jurien, to @fourfootseven who passed them to @kru to take to Uluru

Uluru NT keys

Sydney Agent @Aramgutang holidayed in Uluru, and continued on to Darwin.  While in Darwin @Aramgutang met with @Dirtyranga and passed on some keys, but brought the majority of them back to Sydney. In Sydney @Aramgutang met with –

• @fourfootseven who passed Uluru keys to

• @rarr, for transfer to Jurien, WA.

Broome WA keys

Melbourne Agent @Weston90 holidayed in Broome.  On his way home to Melbourne –

• @Weston90 meets @maijar in Melbourne, who meets @ozmusic and hands over the Broome keys

• @ozmusic then met with both –

• @fudd who travels to Darwin and meets with

• @dirtyranga, providing keys for later transfer to Pine Creek

• and @Roj667, who carries Broome keys to Sydney and meets with

• @RoboticBotox, who meets with @fourfootseven in Sydney

• @fourfootseven gives the keys @kru, who flies to Uluru, NT.

During the earlier Perth meeting between local agents (@YNEMA and @public) and Melbourne agent @Kudrakalliope, a Broome key is inadvertently exchanged and ends up travelling to Melbourne with  @Kudrakalliope.  This key was to remain in WA in order to make the link from Jurien Bay to Broome.   Contingency efforts kick in as agents scramble to get it back to where it is needed –

• @Weston90 has a brief stopover in Perth where @YNEMA collected keys and kept portals recharged

• @YNEMA and @public meet @Kudrakalliope in Perth, where a Broome key is accidentally dropped alongside other keys being exchanged.

• @Kudrakalliope flies to Melbourne, meeting with @Roj667 to hand over the Broome key

• @Roj667 flies to Sydney and meets with @RoboticBotox

• In Sydney @RoboticBotox met with @fourfootseven

• @fourfootseven passes the Broome key to @rarr who is heading to WA
• @rarr passes the Broome key to @YNEMA who passes it to local agents to  link from Jurien, WA.

Dunedin, New Zealand

New Zealand Agent @maximinus flies to Melbourne and meets with Sydney Agent @Simon255 who had also flown to Melbourne. @Simon255 collects Dunedin keys and flies back to Sydney and meets with  

-@Aramgutang who travelled to Tasmania.

Appendix IV – Port Macquarie – Resistance Action Report

What follows is the action report from Resistance agent @anouke, modified only for formatting and spelling.  Some minor [editor comments] have been added to provide clarification where necessary.

We had our suspicions that something was afoot mid morning on Saturday, 6th July, when an Enlightened agent known as @darkcuddles captured the Port Macquarie Gateway portal at the entrance of our town. This followed another Enlightened agent, @zziggy, capturing another of my portals near Taree the previous afternoon. It was unusual to see so much high level green activity in our area, so I quietly posted my concerns to a number of Resistance agents on the Mid North and North Coast, asking if anyone had heard rumours of an event. Shortly after this, a series of layered fields appeared out of Forster, covering a decent area down towards Sydney and out towards western New South Wales.

[Resistance agent] @Chaosduck and I closely watched intel for further action, but saw nothing.  We decided in the early afternoon to take a drive up to the Tacking Point Lighthouse, where two level 7 Enlightened portals were located, on the assumption that if something was afoot, it would be happening from there.  On the way we discussed the idea of using our only two ADA Refactors to flip these portals now, before something could happen, or whether that would be a waste of resources. We still didn’t know for sure that we weren’t just paranoid.

We pulled up next to the lighthouse and saw them immediately: a group of 6 people standing around in a circle, staring into phones and tablets and talking animatedly. One man turned and we noticed his t-shirt – it was green with an ingress logo on it. We knew.

We got out of the car and posed as tourists as we moved closer. I surreptitiously disconnected my battery pack from my phone.  As @Chaosduck positioned himself next to the group to listen in on their conversation, I held up my phone and pretended to take photos of him. He nodded at me almost imperceptibly. They were Enlightened; there was an operation.  We took turns walking past them slowly, pretending to take photos of each other and of the beautiful vista that the lighthouse overlooks. It wasn’t hard to hear them – they were talking loudly over the top of one another. We heard about the link amps, the keys, the viruses and the fallback plans. We hurried back to the car to share what we’d heard and figure out how to react.

We had two problems at this point – first: neither @Chaosduck nor I had ever been involved in large operations, nor taken part in battles with groups of high level opponents, so had no experience to draw on. Second: we had to quickly work out the logistics of both of us potentially fighting out a protracted battle on a weekend with 3 young kids at home. We decided to get home quickly, check intel, ask around our faction to see if anyone knew what was going on, grab kids, coats (it was freezing!) and the only other Resistance agent on hand, @SaltyPlum, and get back there. We were worried that if we pulled our trump card – the ADA Refactors – too quickly, they could flip them back immediately, and we knew they had more agents in other locations who they could rally to help defend.

We were back within 30 minutes, and the first field was up. From the screen it was impossible to tell how big the field was, but we didn’t take any time to find out – we pulled up and started firing bursters in unison. Every time I paused to check the health of the portals, we’d made barely a dent as they were recharging it too fast. We popped off the link amps and one of the shields, and more mods were added.

A young woman approached our window and asked if we were playing ingress. She introduced herself as a member of the Enlightened, and suggested we meet her group. We glanced at each other and agreed. The Enlightened agents introduced themselves to us, and pitched a request that we let them finish the fields, on the idea that even though they were the enemy Faction, an operation like this would put Australia on the Ingress world stage, and potentially attract anomaly events for our country in the future. As they were talking, a car pulled up and more agents stepped out.  We told them we needed a minute for a quick conference amongst ourselves.

We huddled and discussed the situation – we knew that taking down the portals with bursters; 3 agents at levels 5, 6 and 7 against all these level 8 agents whose sole job this weekend was to defend two portals, was going to be messy and protracted at best. As small town players, our high level resources were limited and there was only so long we could keep fighting. We could use ADA Refactors on them from where we were standing – but again, realised that it was an action they would most likely undo quickly and leave us with no means to take it down after they were done. The last field was not yet up so we had good reason to believe they weren’t just going to pack up and leave if we flipped them.

We agreed to back down for the time being.  We were torn about the decision, knowing that our lack of action would frustrate many of the more experienced Resistance players who were watching eagerly and sending messages of tactical advice. On the other hand, I knew that the completion of this operation was inevitable at this point, and the Enlightened agents assured me that if I waited until the final field went up, I could take down a large portion of it in one go, and the Enlightened agents would not try to prevent it.

We turned back for home and sat glued to the intel map, waiting for them to complete the Queensland fields. They weren’t going up. I discussed the situation with several high level resistance agents I trusted. We decided to wait no longer; the country had already been green too long. I dropped our two ADA Refactors and a few power cubes for @Chaosduck and he raced back up there. He parked down the road and finished the journey on foot, through the bushland, where they couldn’t spot him. He fired the first ADA Refactor; it failed. At level 6, we thought his 8000 XM would be enough, but it wasn’t. He texted me, ran back through the bushland to the car to swap the gear back to me. I was pulling my boots on when Queensland turned green, followed by the final wedge of Western Australia moments later. I raced out of the house yelling at the children to grab their coats and follow us as @Chaosduck pulled up, excitedly revved the engine as we bundled in, and took off again.

This time we didn’t waste a moment. We pulled into the lower carpark and I dashed up the stairs into range of the portals, but out of range of the Enlightened agents so they wouldn’t spot us until the job was done. I fired the first ADA, refilled my XM, and fired again [on the other portal]. Minutes after the country turned green, a gaping wedge was blown out of it as the three fields out of Port Macquarie fell. The Enlightened agents messaged us with thanks for our show of good sportsmanship, and left.

Appendix V – National Planning Images

Draft National Plan – draft; Broome to Roxby Downs noted as being beyond reach of L8 portal with 4LA mods

First National Plan – Updated to include Uluru

National Plan – WA BFG v1 – Updated to incorporate WA big green field

National Plan – WA BFG v2 – Variation to incorporate WA big green field

Modified National Plan – Catering for the subsequent fall of the WA field

planning diagram used to show the origin and destination of links made for the national fields

planning diagram used to show the origin and destination of links made for NSW fields

“Enlightenment Cannot Be Reversed”

Macquarie Island – halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica – provides an uninterrupted view of an Aurora Australis. May 30, 2013

THE END     …for now.