Rubik’s Cube Cruise

The 2009 Rural/Allied Health Rubik’s Cube Cruise was held in September for students from Med and Allied Health faculties from across several universities in New South Wales. The event was co-organised by the University of Sydney’s Rural health Club (MIRAGE), UNSW Medsoc and Rural Allied Health and Medical Society (RAHMS) and the Sydney University Pharmacy Association (SUPA).

Upon arrival at Darling Harbour, Sydney, attendees were greeted with a sea of multi-coloured fluorescence. The theme of the night was Rubik’s Cube, where the idea was to arrive in all 6 colours of the Rubik’s Cube and then try to mix and match clothing with others until you were wearing only one colour.

All of the harbour side of Cargo Bar was filled with pharmacy, medicine and science students from University of NSW, University of Sydney, and the University of Newcastle, just to name a few. Everyone got ready: priming their gear, mixing and matching and getting ready for the boat to arrive.

When the boat arrived, everyone piled on and was greeted with a table full of beer. Over the next couple of hours, everyone got quite jolly, dancing around on the three floors of the massive open plan boat. Plenty of food followed and people flocked like seagulls to the Hawaiian, Capricciosa and Margarita pizza goodness.

As the night went on people became more packed together like sardines. The ocean swell coming in encouraged bumping and grinding like never seen before. People randomly approached other people; some initiated conversation and made new friends, while others attempted to acquire their clothing in a clandestine manner, inevitably springing romance in the process. The smoke machines set the ambiance; the DJs pumped out crazy beats. Then the fruit cocktails kicked in and everyone lost their sea legs.

The costumes were quite spectacular with a wide variety of takes on the theme. Swapping clothing provided a great opportunity to go a little crazy and meet others from other faculties. Of most note, however, was Sydney Uni pharmacy student Amanda Zhong, who came dressed as a walking Rubik’s Cube. This would have taken hours to arrange, and it was clear she had put the most effort in, so she became the proud recipient of a bottle of Moet courtesy of MDA National. Other notable contenders for the prize received heavy duty pen-lights, also courtesy of MDA National.

As the ship pulled in, all the tipsy sailors left the ship and were funneled up to the Wallaby Bar at Darling Harbour, where the festivities continued. MDA National with Leigh Archer and Dale Merchant from RUMS did a particularly fantastic job of organizing and facilitating this event.

Lots of fun was had, lots of new friends were made and lots of colour coordinated outfits were returned to the Salvos the next day.

Jan Kokavec
University of Sydney

Cube Facts

• Ernõ Rubik invented the Cube in the spring of 1974 in his home town of Budapest, Hungary. He wanted a working model to help explain three-dimensional geometry and ended up creating the world’s best selling toy.
• More than 300 million Rubik’s Cubes have been sold worldwide. If all the cubes were placed on top of each other it would be enough to reach the North Pole from the South Pole!
• 'Cubing' still infects people of all ages. 'Cubaholics' are said to suffer from 'Rubik's wrist' and 'Cubist's thumb'!
• In May 2007, Thibaut Jacquinot of France became the first person to complete the Cube in under 10 seconds in open competition, setting a world record time of 9.86 seconds. The current world record for a single solve was set by Erik Akkersdijk at the 2008 Czech Open with a time of 7.08 seconds.