2011 Rally Updates

Last night we had the dinner for the big Welcome to Goondiwindi and the official opening and start of the Great Endeavour. The stage was set up with a big inflatable arch and Endeavour banners. It was truly a fitting scene. We had the formalities of speeches as well as a bit of fun... Endeavour style. Road Boss (RB) turned up on stage in a cowboy outfit with golden undies on... to represent the Golden West of course. 

This morning everyone was waved off under the arch in the main street of Goondi. It wasn't far to the first wacko which was a true taste of what is yet to come. Lots of navigation along a track which is best suited for motorbikes. All crews came out smiling.

Lunch was at Moonie crossroads and was absolutely fantastic. The community locals had made lots and lots of slices and cakes of all descriptions... yum yum. I was full as a boot, as were most others. The cruise crews visited the local school and got to play games with all the kids. I'm sure it would be memorable for both parties.

Sections after lunch proved to be rugged and tough, but all cars and crews are travelling along well. On one section there were a couple of creek crossings which proved to be a challenge. The one where we were lucky enough to be at, most cars got stuck and required a tow. Nothing car damaging.. just entertaining.

Car 86 has had some fuel dramas which didn't help in their attempt to get across the creek... All's well though.

Tonight is at Flinton and there is no coverage there so will be sending this earlier. Tonight we have 'Find a Friend' where, upon check-in we have to pick a name out of a hat and find that person on the event....should be interesting! It is something that every person on the rally, including all the officials and RB himself, will participate in.

RB went to the dentist today. I can recommend Crowthers Dentists in Goondi. They fit him in at short notice and gave excellent service. He is now good as new and has a supply of drugs should he need them.

Well all, that's it for Day 1. Bye for now.

Mrs RB
aka Michelle Lawson

Cold night at Flinton last night and this morning. Lucky there were big fire drums about the place. A few locals turned up including the property owners of many of the private property tracks used yesterday.

Our 'Find a Friend' went off well and a few 'newbies' got to meet a few 'oldies'. It was a great idea to get people mixing.

Great start to the morning, a bit cold, but great nonetheless. Except for poor BJ in car 110 who started through the arch then broke down about 50m up the track.No worries though, saw BJ at lunch so must be fixed and own his way.

A couple of great sections this morning. One in particular left crews feeling a bit like a load of clothes in a tumble dryer. Only one minor breakage from that section and that was car 78 who broke a sway bar. They are going to keep limping along for the rest of the day and fix in camp tonight.

Car 888 broke shock absorbers and went through to St George to get fixed and will rejoin the rally. Jana - one of the clients has her birthday today and will celebrate tonight.

Last night at admin, Smithy in the bus gave out toilet rolls and garbage bags. Two essential items on any Great Endeavour. It is something we are very proud of, and that is we don't leave rubbish around and keep clean
campsites.

Yesterday in the creek crossing where Road Boss (RB) towed almost everyone through, he got to tow Sno out of car 123 also. Very momentous as it is the first time RB has towed Sno in the past 17 years. Unlike some others who are regular attachments to RB's car every year. (I can't name these people for fear of retribution.)

The Cruise course today is visiting Nindigully for Dunny Races, Roadtrain Bugers (which are 2 feet round) and later they go to a woolshed for a demonstration.

Everyone who has been lost, has found their way again. It is always amusing to see a car come past in the wrong direction... Yes this was BJ in 110 yesterday while RB and I were sitting at a servo. What's worse is when someone is following the lost car.

We have 2 old women on this year's rally that have spent the day with RB and I... their names are Tony and Dave in B681...never a dull moment.

No service again tonight. But alas I've gone through St George where there is service and hence you've got an update.

A couple of illnesses to report... flu, allergic reaction and diarrhoea. Hope they don't all spread.

Well all, that's it for this time.
Mrs RB.

Last night at Dunkeld proved to be very interesting. For dinner we got to choose a T-Bone then cook it ourselves or pay the locals $2 to cook it for us. They are a bit light-on the volunteers so we happily tried to boost their fundraising efforts. The Golf Club there was washed away earlier this year and have been doing it tough, so it was great that we could boost their morale and support their efforts to get back on track.

We also had a monster auction with loads of goodies to bid on. Car 98 did very well with a couple of bags of knitted items and wine. Car 35 also spent up big on 'stuff' - I don't know if he actually bought anything worthwhile. The locals also joined the bidding which was good to see.

After most had gone to bed a local could be heard on the PA giving a squealing pig rendition which wasn't so popular with the sleepy heads but those who were his live audience thought it was quite good.

Des in car 89 came into camp about 8.30pm. He had diff problems and had them fixed in St George. Met up with some old rallytives at Dunkeld this morning, Gerald and Marlene Rennick and Margaret Ferrier.

Started raining last night. Nothing too heavy just constant. Did a lovely job of getting rid of the dust and made everything nice and slippery. The cars are all looking very muddy this afternoon. RB and I did a control point for most of the afternoon. He and a local farmer made a great fire, but alas all the paperwork got a bit wet. It's okay because we know the scorer and she wont make any complaints to us.

On our control we had a couple of local families with the bucket out hoping to raise a few dollars to lobby for isolated children's needs. They had just come from a music lesson in town and had their instruments (sax, clarinets etc) with them so were entertaining us.

The wet proved to be a bit challenging. Car 42 fell a little sideways and got a flat tyre. CS checked them out and our sweeps checked the tyre out.

Amy from the WIN car jumped in the Road Boss Bus from lunch to get to Wyandra early so she could edit loads of vision. That's always exciting because it means TV coverage. Keep an eye on the TEN and WIN news. Not sure what/when they show anything, but you may catch a glimpse of something.

Lunch at Morven... soup, sandwiches (with the freshest ingredients), and home made assortment of slices. It never ceases to amaze me how people out here can make such quality and fresh food in the middle of nowhere and in Toowoomba it can sometimes prove to be difficult to find.

The wet weather may be too much for tomorrow's plans, but we'll see what we can do. It was a short day into Charleville which may prove to be just a bit shorter now. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Oh, almost forgot. We are down 1 car but not 1 crew. BJ's bug became irreparable last night so will get a lift back to Gatton by RACQ. (I'm assuming that, no idea really.) BJ and Clint abandoned the bug and have jumped in as Checkpoint Chicks... Nice thought that one! All's well and the Great Endeavour Spirit prevails always.

It is now 5.50pm and all cars and crews have been through our checkpoint but RB wants to wait for the last 2 sweeps to check on gates or fences on properties used today. After that we will be heading into Wyandra and send this update on. It is getting cold and is very wet out here now, but as we are still having fun I'm sure the same for everyone else - aside from Charlsey who at 3am this morning got a bucket load of water dumped on him in his swag by a leaking tarp. I'm sure it is not as funny for him as his crew thinks it is.

Well all, that's the news of the moment.
Till tomorrow,
Mrs RB.

Left our checkpoint last night at 6.21 and went straight into Wyandra via the main road. It was only 42 kms.

After all the rain yesterday the road was very sloppy and slippery, finally got into town about 7.35pm.

The Road Boss Bus had electrical problems yesterday so Norm from Car 17 helped us out by finding and fixing the problem. Thanks Norm. Smithy the bus driver/PR man/Admin fell ill yesterday so had an early night. Scorer Nic became the bus driver today and got Smithy into Charleville. After an early night he is now a lot better.

Also yesterday, Car 98 - the Legend John Leadbetter, hit something with its rear end and lost a tail light. Media Mafia picked it up off the road and it was returned safely this morning. John reckons it was about time something happened, simply due to the law of averages. John and his car, 98, have done every single section of every single rally over the past 24 years - what a legend!

Last night in Wyandra Amy and Rocco from Foxtail Productions played a DVD that they had been working on. What a hoot! It had bits of rally footage, bits of fun stuff and deserved the big round of applause and more.

Today's sections could not be salvaged. RB and trusty officials C2, C3, C8 and S2 gave the sections a good try out, but alas when it is tuff in a 4WD we figure the 2wd's are better off having a lay day - especially since we're not even half way yet.

Cruise cars got to go to the Cosmos Centre in Charleville today. I'm sure they all learnt something they didn't know before. Others went shopping, played golf, spent an hour in the shower, looked at a TV for the first time since leaving Goondi, cleaned their cars out, went to a footy game, not to mention filling up all the Laundromats in Charleville.

Cars 681 and 133 couldn't wait and decided to get into Charleville last night - probably thought it was too wet in Wyandra. Almost everyone, I'm sure, managed to get some sort of dry camp last night. All the verandas, stables, carports and the like were full to the brim with swags of rally goers. Even the local policeman came to make sure we were all okay, and I think the 'Snotties' bagsed his veranda.

Soon after dinner and a local auction to raise money for breast cancer, most rally goers went back to their dry camps and had an early night. I'm not sure how those at the pub fared - dry camp and beer flowing - they may have had a later night.

Yesterday was the longest day on the rally and our wonderful sweeps still managed to get into town by 9.30pm. Well done fellas.

Tonight has the theme of R & R which kind of fits in with today, except tonight is Rock & Roll. Can't wait to see what the Hot Rockers in car 188 have install for us.

Tomorrow it looks as though most of the course can be used. C2 have been out all day checking on the course while RB has had the phone glued to his ear talking to property owners. We'll see what happens in the morning. For now everyone is clean, dry, rested and getting set for the next 6 days.

Bye for now
Mrs RB.

Last night at Charleville we had our R & R night. Plenty of great costumes to be seen. Plenty of dancing and rocking going on. It was a great night for one and all. The clients truly got into the evening and danced their hearts out. How fantastic! We also had a birthday bash last night to celebrate Endeavour's 60th birthday as well as all the other birthdays of rallytives.

The taxi number in Charleville appeared to have had a meltdown last night so RB, me, Rocco, Amy & Batman (Media Crew) and S1 - Tony and Freddy, had a long walk back to the motel.

Car 1 - David Barbagallo from Endeavour - left the rally yesterday heading for home. Work commitments are a bugger. David had a satellite tracker thing in his car which is now in RB's car, so if you go to www.greatendeavour.com.au you should be able to find a link which shows an update every 10 mins of where we are. It is pretty cool.

Surprisingly, some phone carriers had no service in Charleville, so if you didn't hear from your loved one, I'm sure they still love you and wanted to ring, but their phones may not have worked.

RB's sister has a birthday today and as she is one of the favourites and the chief babysitter, RB rang her during the briefing this morning and had everyone on the rally to sing Happy Birthday. What a hoot. I'm sure Lynette got a real kick out of it as we all did.

The first section was cancelled this morning as it turned out that a group of locals were having a trail ride with horses in the same area we were to have rally cars. The 1st nine cars got to see some of the section before RB knew of the trail ride, then they and all others were stopped immediately and diverted to where the next section could start. Safety 1st for everyone involved. The communications and procedures worked true to form and I was super impressed how things ran smoothly where the alternative could have been a mixture of rally cars and kids on horses all sharing the same space. Anyway, it was very impressive to see everyone work together, cooperate and follow directions to keep everyone safe.

Each day (some we have missed) we have had a knob of the day where someone who had done something silly gets to wear a 'Knob Hat' for the day. Today this went to Freckles out of car 135. He rang his wife yesterday to tell her the rally actually finished on Thursday, not Friday as he had previously told her. Soon after that he had to ring her back and tell her that it finished at Sea World, not Dreamworld as he'd previously told her. Lucky he got the right info to her in time...

A bit of interest... there are massive amounts of wildlife around this year. Usually driving around on these roads you get to see a few kangaroos and naturally cattle in the paddocks, but this year we have seen heaps of emus, foxes, pigs, a couple of echidnas, as well as the massive amounts of kangaroos and cattle. It is almost never you see foxes or echidnas and only the occasional emu.

Tonight is in Tambo and we have 'Tambo's got Talent' and 'Minute to Win It'. Fun and games with prizes up for grabs. Should be a few laughs to be had. Should mention that the meals at the Charleville RSL were superb.

RB and I did a passage check this morning where we pulled up in a section to check on the progress of the cars. They didn't need to stop at all. All cars went past, so that was a good sign. Now we are on another control which is the last of the day before heading to Admin where they will be checked off for the last time of the day. Cars and crews have started to come through and all appears well.

At admin, all cars and crews are accounted for. Nic's busy scoring. I'm off do some other work. Tomorrow night there is absolutely no phone service, so don't be too disappointed if there is no update, however I will try to get a quick one
done somewhere during the day.

Well all, that's the news of the moment.
Mrs RB.

The night at Tambo turned out to be an absolute blast. We had 'Minute to Win It' games as well as a 'No Talent' quest. The games had us in stitches and the 'no talent' quest kept us entertained. For the games we had individuals trying to bounce 4 ping-pong balls into an upside down hat on their heads. Well... some could do it quite well surprisingly, and others just had no chance or no idea. Well done to Clayton who is travelling with Captain Cruise for winning that game. Another game needed a team of 2 where one member would hold a roll of toilet paper while the other would spin round and round wrapping the paper around themselves until the roll was empty. Col and Noel Clifford from Endeavour took out the honour of winning that one. There was no way that Noel was going to let a little bit of dizziness stop him from spinning around.

The 'No Talent' quest actually brought out some true talent among our rallytives. Thanks to all who participated. The clients in cars 04, 05 and 06 put on a great show and were proud as punch to be showcasing their talents. Well done to all.

At the end of section into Tambo, we had our resident 'funny men' from B681 (who don't know that B actually means they are supposed to be a backup car, rather than doing everything else that they do), took a donation from every car that came past them. Anyway they raised $200 and decided they would donate it to the policeman at Tambo who is passionate about Blue Light youth activities in the local area, which have proved to be a huge success. The policeman worked the bar all night and was great company and very supportive of our rally goers. Anyway, when B681 donated his cause the $200 he was visibly touched to say the least. He also mentioned that in their small community they work tirelessly and are flat out raising $50 a year. Not only that, but when our rallytives heard about his cause and passion, on the sly they approached him and donated more money. So now the Great Endeavour's new BFF is the policeman and his wife at Tambo. (This kind of story makes my heart melt and is very common on the Great
Endeavour.)

Day 7 reminds everyone that they are on the downhill run to home. There were more great roads, great food and great company to be had. The weather has turned lovely and the rain clouds have disappeared. No real incidences to report from the road or vehicle side of things (that I have heard specifically, no doubt there have been a couple.)

The night time of day 7 included the annual running of the 'Stonehenge Gift'. The boys from car 17 put a calcutta together which included names for the runners such as: Long Schlong, Phar Out, Black and a Beauty, Tooloombilla Tool, Gifted, Tripod and Free Willy to name a few. The running of the 'Gift' raised about $2000 for Endeavour. What a hoot is was to see the runners being auctioned off and having their mates bid for them in the run. Only one runner decided to do the race on horseback. The trouble was, the horse is made of fibreglass, is going backwards and is on the back of 133's ute. It turned out to be trouble because the runner/rider had a bare bum and was riding with no saddle so is now walking funning with a fibreglass issue down below.

This isn't everything that happened on the rally/cruise (same as every other update) and they are not official media updates, rather just a few things that I get to see and experiences I get to enjoy throughout my days out here. As you are all loved ones, supporters and significant others, you are all a major part of our event as well and need to keep updated and informed of goings on.

Will get another update done tonight for Day 8 and send from Miles tonight. You would find it funny to see my trying to type on the laptop driving along these rally roads. Up and down through humps, dips and over grids. Today I keep losing the mouse arrow on the screen with the sun shining through the window. So if you come across some words that don't quite look right, it is because the mouse and curser were lost when I was trying to edit. On our way directly to Roma to get this sent ASAP.

Bye for now,
Mrs RB.

Beautiful, clear, sunny skies... nasty wind to go with it. The car is lovely and warm though. Nothing like a great day on the Great Endeavour.

Well, Day 8 is almost done and dusted. That means only a day and a half left. I'll bet all are as excited as me on both ends (that is from the rally and from home), to be seeing our loved ones and kids. Back to the real world very soon.

Lunch at Yuleba - sandwiches freshly made with soft fresh bread. This still astounds me...

Almost all should have phone range tonight. I'm not a fan of Telstra but when you travel in the areas that we do, 3G's got it covered.

This morning before lunch, cars 75, 109 and Batman in WIN TV got bogged in a dam. Don't tell Batman I was the one who told you. Hopefully it shows up on the DVD so I won't be the guilty culprit of letting that story out. Car 616 limped into Miles with a bit of car drama, as did car 75 after lunch.

All's great on the Great Endeavour. It is 6pm and we still have 10 cars and 4 officials yet to come and check in. Be sure though we are very dedicated and will sit at the Admin bus until every single car and crew member is accounted for.

Tonight at Miles we are going to the Historical Village for Dinner. Never been there so looking forward to seeing what is there.

The Cruise Clients had a ball today going through the creek crossings and getting water splashed onto the windscreen.

Well all, not much news. All's well and no doubt we'll be meeting and seeing each other in a day and a half. There will be an update tomorrow.

Lunch is at Endeavour in Warwick tomorrow. The clients are looking forward to it as much as us.

Until tomorrow,
Mrs RB