DAY 1, TOOWOOMBA TO BOLLON:
Morning atmosphere at City Golf Club in Toowoomba was static to say the least. I heard during the day of a grade 3 girl reading the weather for channel 9's today show from the start of the rally. All day I wondered if she was in any way related to the rally. At tea, I found out she is the daughter of John Riggs in car 99. John was proud as punch to say the least. Michelle Sneider, a local councillor from toowoomba and a country singer, started the flag off with the national anthem. This was really, really good. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. It was an awesome sight to see 400 plus people go dead silent and show their patriotism, and be ready for their adventures ahead.
Car 75 made it to Cambooya, where they come from incidently, and broke something like a timing belt. He has since been fixed and left Toowoomba at 7pm tonight. It will be a late one for him, so I'll see them in the morning.
Col Clifford and Co. filled up their 4WD hire car with unleaded fuel, and then realised it took diesel. I know this is funny, but could have been quite serious.
The remembrance/celebration organised at the lunch stop was extremely touching. If you don't know the story, I run through it briefly.
20 Years ago, on the first day of the first ever Great Endeavour, 2 men were tragically killed in a car accident (they were entrants). Although each year they are remembered and mentioned at the finish, this year we marked the spot of the accident with a memorial cross, plaque and flowers. Jamie of course made a speech and invited the mayor of Tara and SES who were actually called to the site 20 years ago. Allan was also meant to do some talking but was overcome with emotion at the last minute. The ceremony was very touching.
Car 0217 had fuel pump problems, but as I type they are standing behind me chatting, so all must be good there.
Heard a couple of radio interviews regarding the rally today. They were pretty good.
All cars and crews are in Bollon and have had a very yummy tea consisting of home styled roast with veges and boiled pudding with custard and cream. It must have been good because our Jordan (10) and Anna (6) don't willingly eat veges but did tonight.
Tonight is quite cool, and I expect will get cold. So am sleeping with a beenie on. We are all swagging it for most of the rally. That is RB, Me and the kids. At least we have a home base next to the car for the kids and are not lugging baggage to and from rooms. I will miss a shower though.
Well all, must go and will send a message from Quilpie tomorrow night.
DAY 2, BOLLON TO QUILPIE:
As at 5.30pm most cars and crews had arrived into Quilpie. Reasonably early as tomorrow is just over 900km. Very early start.
A couple of antics that have gone on so far include;
Car 440 have a crushing cans for Endeavour thing going, where they are collecting everyones cans, crushing them, putting them into a wool bag and carrying them home to recycle. They are very dedicated to this job and walk around with flouro vests on that say CAN MAN. It looks cool and is a good idea. Apparently it came about the Thursday before the rally started. So well done guys.
There is a pink dress floating around for the current rally leader to wear for a day. It is funny to see them think twice about being 1st. So far, car 90 wore it for day 1 as they won the rally last year, and there was not yet a current leader, then today Rod from car 7, and Craig from car 53 were equal first. Rod was to wear the dress until lunch and then pass it on. However, by the time lunch came about, Craig was long gone. I don't think he ever intended to be seen in the dress.
I asked car 333 why they called their car wormy. The answer was totally unexpected. You know when you worm dogs and they drag their arse along the ground? Well they reckon by the end of the rally, their car will be dragging its arse along the ground.
Jamie and I pulled up at a control point before lunch only to be held up by a group of local kids asking for a donation. They held up a sign that said, "My mother has motor neurone disease, please donate to the motor neurone association". It was very touching. They managed to raise $500 so a big congratulations to all. Although it is never expected by organisers to donate at road blocks or to other local charities, I am amazed at how many people do. I just can't imagine how hard it must be for some families to survive out here, especially with specialty facilities few and far between.
Col Clifford realised last night that he left his sleeping bag at home and found out there are none to buy at Cunnamulla.
Mitzy in one of the sweep cars fell ill. Not sure if the sweeps were putting something in her drinks last night, or whether she has caught Rally Belly. (That's just when you eat big meals, with little exercise, at regular times, and maybe not of the ingrediants you are used to.) Poor Jordan has a touch and is complaining of being 'backed up'.
For the next two nights we are in Bedourie. No service - nothing there, so don't count on any information. However, I urge you to jot a note down here if you hear from your loved one. If I can get on a landline computer from Bedourie, I will send something.
Chris from P1, just stuck his head in the door - will supply some photos after tea for me to send on to you. The photo crew look great, lots of them in bright yellow jackets. I think they all suffer with hyperactivity, as they buzz around with endless energy.
Anyway all, must go for now.
Michelle.
DAY 3, QUILPIE TO BEDOURIE:
Hi All,
Well I have to make this an extra long story for you all, because
there is so much to tell and so little time, and so little available
technology.
Yesterday all cars and crews were up especially early for a 6am
start. I am very proud to say that everyone was in and accounted for
including the sweep vehicle at 11.45pm. That in itself is an amazing
accomplishment. 300 people, 115 vehicles, 920km and the conditions
faced in this part of the world - this has blown me away.
I'll start with a couple of stories.
Quilpie was an early but good night. Nice hot showers to be had. If
you've never been to Quilpie you're missing out on experiencing their
water quality. This is absolutely true: the quality is excellent,
however it does have one problem. That is, it stinks! I'm not talking
a bit woofy that smells a bit in the shower, I'm talking pong that
smells out the whole shower block, like 20 men that have had a feed
of baked beans. Good thing is, the smell is gone absolutely once the
tap is turned off, and it is not absorbed by anything. Apparently
this is the smell of the bore water used here.
As you may or may not know, RB is having a big crackdown on
unnecessary speeding. His and our aim, is of course the safety of our
loved ones. To keep check we have genuine police radars and lights
for use during the rally. On the first day car 5 got caught speeding
unnecessarily. RB spoke to these guys to get the story and a please
explain - no problem there. However, at the next briefing, (to warn
off other would-be speeding offenders), while RB was up on the stage
he called up car 5 and said, "I'm not going to publicly humiliate
you, but you were caught speeding," etc..... Anyway, RB told them to
sep into his office," (behind the curtains on the stage). Next thing
all everyone heard was banging, crashing, thumping and yelling. RB
eventually came out, followed by car 5 with their heads hung low.
Further to this RB made them start at the back of the field and, they
had to empty the other cars of their cans (for the can men) at the
morning control! Well.....funny! All were in fits of laughter -
except for car 5, who took consequenceswell, and really played up the
act. However, I think all cars and crews got the message that
speeding is not on. I'm sure you would all agree, that's a good
message.
Message for Wobbly Bits loved ones. Have you heard from him? We can't
find him and is not handing in his paperwork, but left his trademark
stickers all over the lunch stop yesterday.
Car 81 has a great website for you to all look at. It is
www.car81.com.au .
Last night was a good show was put on by the locals here at Bedourie.
Man, I'm surprised at how well they can dance. Others like Col
Clifford, were also doing a great job at dancing with PJ Turner and
Noel, but it was the work of red wine and while PJ and Noel were
taking him off to bed.
There's been no TV for a few days but we have a room here with a TV
so our kids are glued to it. They are both travelling exceptionally
well and are collecting loads and loads of lollies. To combat this,
Anna had to wear a sign yesterday that said, "Dad said no more
lollies". Thanks to all cars and crews that took this message
seriously.
I'll give you a quick overview of placings, although these are
preliminary it will give you an idea of where everyone is.
The top 10 include: cars 90,7,40,46,98,109,150,165,250,308. All these
cars have lost minimal points.
The last 10 cars are: cars925, 114,186, 000,5,15, 99, 58, 75, 116,
137.
Every one else is in between. This is just to give you an idea and it
is important to note that there are lots of ties and very few points
separating positions.
I notice that our website has now been shut down so I hope that the
new one has transferred all the entrant info over for you to get the
details of the above car numbers.
There was a sandune yesterday morning in one of the sections, where
only 16 cars made it over unassisted. Car 82 was one of them, and she
is making sure everyone knows about it - deservedly so. The rest were
towed by car 440. Good on you BOB the tin man, and a big thanks. The
results of this section should see the scores separate a bit.
There were a few break downs yesterday, but like I said before, all
are in and here.
Well all, that should keep you going a bit and as always I could
write a book. I can't believe the difference in the amount of
material I get to write about, depending on the job I get to do.
On behalf of your loved ones here, take care and see you in about a
week.
Michelle. aka Mrs RB.
DAY 4,BEDOURIE CAMEL RACES:
The problem with reports has been mobile phone coverage and although everyone is crazy busy, all are in fine spirits.
There are no major incidents to report.
The camel races were a big day for all and they are heading through
to Lark Quarry with a small day of about 500 kms.
Currently the cruze cars are a Boulia - and heading 2 kms out of
town for a bonnet party (this is at 11am on Sunday morning).
It will be interesting to see how the it goes today with BJ being
the "Navi" for the spares truck after a massive day yesterday at the
races.
All is good - there are the usual breakdowns, but in true rally
spirit they are all pulling together to achieve the best.
DAY 5, BEDOURIE TO LARK QUARRY:
DAY 6, LARK QUARRY TO STONEHENGE:
Hello Loved Ones,
I actually think that this will be a 3 day update. It is very easy to loose track of time.
Bedourie camel races had loads of entertainment. Lots of rally people dressed in theme, and looked really funny. Lots of Arabs getting around.
The local school kids, all 15 of them had a bike ride which coincided with the camel races, to raise money for a trip they were planning. RB found this a bit boring, so decided to auction the kids off to rally entrants. The idea then became that the Rally people had to help the kids in the bike race. Well........ a few food obstacles were put in the way. Things like packets of chips, M & m's, chocolate bars ets. As you can imagine, the rally crews became very creative in picking up kids and their bikes, woofing down a packet of m & m's and running to the next food table. Funny!!!!!! Hilarious!!!!!!! Everyone's a winner though as the school raised $1010. Yes, that is One thousand and 10 dollars.
The local policeman at Bedourie was a bit of a sour puss to say the least and called in reinforcements from Mt Isa for the weekend. It all became a bit embarassing when he had to admit that the rally people were very well behaved and all the coppers felt un-needed - poor fellows. However, very good from our perspective.
The next morning (yesterday), we had a fuel drop about 160km from Bedourie. What this means is that RB had organised for drums of fuel to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere. Then as each car came through the section, they had to buy fuel. It means that the rally will not be passing anywhere that they can buy petrol, all day. So, we had the fuel & officials to pump it. Although it sounds a lot, the fuel cost $2 a litre, which is a bargain when you really, really need it and we only asked that you buy 20 litres. It is a logistical bad dream to get fuel into these places, and it has to be pre paid for and we run the risk of it getting stolen because it is in the middle of nowhere and is dropped off a week or so before. Anyway that fuel drop worked well. It is a very strange sight to see and unimaginable that this kind of thing can be made to happen.
Anyway, we drove all day. Jamie and I almost ended up with the sweep cars. That means we were 5th last car in. As we approached Admin to check in, some dude talking to Nic was pointing to the car and nodding, so before the car even stopped, this fellow's head was in the window with "Can you" questions for Jamie. It had already been a long, rough day. We pulled up next to our camping buddies to find a stake through the front tyre. It was getting worse. (By the way it was about 7.30pm). So after using lots of swear words, we needed to get the swags, orgainse the other 280 people for the night time activities. I am astounded how busy our time is out here. We only just got through the night. There was lots and lots of spectacular scenery for the drive to Lark Quarry. Went to see the dinosaur prints the following morning - these are just amazing.
The camp looked amazing as there is nothing at Lark Quarry. I mean Nothing. Oh, except an airstrip. That is a strip of dirt. So for 280 to camp there the night, was pretty special. Jamie, I and the kids did a walk around this morning with garbage bags, and I am pleased to say that all crews did a great job at putting rubbish in the bin.
Today we took the easy way!!!!!! Jamie had to make a few phone calls to property owners and do organisers stuff. The kids have enjoyed a couple of hours out of the car. It is really hard to imagine how fast the time flies driving on these rally tracks with 280 other people.
Looking forward to ringing my middle son tonight. (We now have CDMA service.) It is funny knowing there has been no service for anyone since Quilpie and then coming to town late this afternoon and seeing lots of people talking on mobile phones.
Anyway, that's it for today - I'm hungry. Tonight and tomorrow night we are in Stonehenge which sometimes gets 1 bar of CDMA service so will walk around with the laptop until this email goes and will do the same tomorrow.
Regards,
Michelle Lawson.
DAY 7, STONEHENGE TO STONEHENGE:
Today was a short easy day. Rally cars had a wacko section which was apparently very rocky and very tough going. All cars and crews were back in by 2.30pm.
Cruise cars didn't have anything to do today. However as Stonehenge is only 150km from Longreach, most cruisers and left behind rally cars, chose to go to Longreach. This afternoon, everyone appeared to be back at Stonehenge by 4pm.
It is truly a sight to see what has been happening since then. If you can imagine a one pub town, with cars and crews all scattered around camp sites, all within about a 700m radius from the street in front of the pub. People are working on cars, walking around with towels and toilet bags, talking on mobile phones, working on computers, taking photos, chatting in small groups with a few beers, big drums of fires in front of the hotel, and on the street are rally goers having a game of cricket. The type played in the backyard at xmas time. This is truly a sight to see, and it goes to show how and why we all feel part of a great big extended family.
Last night we ran the Gift. To set the starters off, were some fireworks. They were great, but as I found out, while I was looking up, the runners were running past. So I therefore missed it all! It is great to see the Stonehenge Gift in Stonehenge. For the past 19 years it has been run in different towns.
The Stonehenge Community has been fantastic. Very helpful and hospitable, and loved having the rally here. The alcohol prices are cheaper here than they were at the Cathedral Centre in Toowoomba, where we had the start dinner. That just blows me away. The same can be said all the way around. Fuel however, is different. Lucky the Cathedral Centre doesn't sell that.
Get ready for some positions. These are up to date as at this afternoon.
Car No - Pos.
7 - 1
46 - 2
98 - 3
90 - 4
40 - 5
81 - 6
89 - 7
707 - 8
69 - 9
109 - 10
53 - 11
17 - 12
44 - 13
135 - 14
4X - 15
77 - 16
58 - 17
67 - 18
308 - 19
47 - 20
122 - 21
500 - 22
165 - 23
88 - 24
82 - 25
440 - 26
23 - 27
97 - 28
100 - 29
70 - 30
150 - 31
6 - 32
589 - 33
108 - 34
51 - 35
141 - 36
49 - 37
10 - 38
9 - 39
169 - 40
5 - 41
125 - 42
15 - 43
177 - 44
12 - 45
55 - 46
74 - 47
39 - 48
20 - 49
75 - 50
888 - 51
Okay all, once again, that is it for another day. Take care and note that most mobile should work tomorrow night. Crews are expected to be all in by 8pm - probably. It is a long day, so don't panic if they don't manage to ring until the following morning.
Regards,
Michelle.
Oh...... there are just too many. The rest are just too far away. If you would like to know specifically where your loved one is, just email me.
DAY 8, STONEHENGE TO MITCHELL
Good Evening once again,
It is amazing how easy it is to loose track of days out here.
It is getting harder and harder to know where to start here. So much is going on all the time, and it happens so quickly that my poor little brain gets muddled.
I must say that the Can Men are doing an amazing job. They are very dedicated and have followed through with the idea 100%. Everyone knows what they are doing and are keeping and squashing cans. It is a fantastic idea that is working really well. The only thing I would be concerned about is the amount of work that Bob and Col have created for themselves. I hope they are enjoying it as much us we are.
Another long, long, day today. As we speak, I have just had tea and left the hall about 10 mins ago, just as the sweep cars walked through the door. By my clock, that was about 10.25pm. Jamie and I actually arrived in town about 8pm and we were among the last few cars to come in. As the sweeps are now in, I am confident in saying that everyone is in and accounted for.
Jamie and I had another 2 flat tyres today. This is just one big pain in the rear end. I shouldn't complain as Bob in car 440 has had 6 flat tyres.
The tracks today were extremely rough. More like billy goat tracks than vehicle tracks. It never ceases to amaze me the terrain that is covered on the Great Endeavour. (I guess this is why we get flat tyres.)
We called through a town called Adavale. It is a strange place with nothing there but a couple of old houses high on stilts, a falling down pub that looks like it is built out of left over bits and pieces of builing materials from about 60 years ago. Dirt roads and no grass. Extremely unattractive and primitive. I'm trying to work out why it is actually there?
Tonight the Great Endeavour had a birthday party. The meal venue looked very festive with balloons, and the meal itself was yum. The local shire council had a gift for each place setting. It is a bottle opener-key ring, with a light, and the town name of Mitchell on it. This wouldn't be a cheap gift for 300 people so it is a very nice gesture.
Our middle son Mitchell is missing us heaps, so nanna is bringing him out to Leyburn tomorrow night.
It is very cold here with predictions it will be worse in the morning. We have another early one with cars starting at 7am. Hopefully they won't be as late into Leyburn, as the rear of the field was tonight.
Okay all, I'm sure you can all appreciate how tired i am so will sign off once again.
Regards to all,
Michelle.
PS. Smelly water again, but not as bad as Quilpie. Water at Stonehenge is river water. Yes, that is what actually comes out of the shower rose, and flushed down the toilet. Water, straight from the river. Can you believe that? And I actually showered in it!
DAY 9: MITCHELL TO LEYBURN
DAY 10: LEYBURN TO KOORALBYN
Hello loved ones,
Last night we spent at Leyburn. Great fun night with lots up for auction, very nice meal, great entertainment, refreshing drinks, and very very cold. Last night was probably my biggest night. I had heaps of fun.
This morning was very very cold still. Ice on everything. Below zero degrees. But sun was shining and after all the experiences of the last nine days, the cold seems very insignificant.
Almost all of the cars and crews are at Kooralbyn. Lots of family, friends and supporters have turned up for the dinner tonight and very flash accommodations of the resort. The cars that haven't yet made it in are all accounted for and can't get here until later, or have had to go home for one reason or another.
Col Clifford had to wear the pink dress today. The spirit of the event was in full shine as he wore it while announcing everyone over the finishing line.
The highest fundraising positions have changed over the last 2 days. This is extremely exciting and makes me feel very proud to be just a very small part of an amazing event.
Car 81 were officially the highest fundraisers this morning. Now, these 2 guys set the target to be in this position, and they never seemed to give up on achieving it. Even 10 days ago when they were a few thousand dollars short, Charlesy and Col, appeared to have the vision they could do it, and just did it. Well done!!!! Man, I'm impressed.....
I have to go for now to help RB with more paperwork, but will write a bit of a debrief when we get home. I assume you are all hearing from loved ones as we speak.
Michelle
aka Mrs Road Boss.
RESULTS: Final Update
Hello once again. Thought I'd give you a run down on final hours of this years Great Endeavour and the trip home.
Kooralbyn was a lovely spot. It was great to see so many families and supporters turn up. It amazes me to see the rally goers in a different context. That is, the dirty, dusty people hanging with their crew members, on one hand, then they become dad, husband, partner (and clean) for the finish. This is so heart warming!
Can't say much for the lunch at Kooralbyn. I know this is a winge, but how can Budgerigar (a station in the middle of nowhere) supply fresh bread buns, and Kooralbyn which has all the mod cons and facilities within 30 mins drive, supply bread buns that are stale?
Friday night for the presentation dinner looked great. Road Boss and I were late naturally, as we were finalising results. For anyone else running behind time, (by the way it was only about 20 mins) would have found it difficult to get a seat and/or hear anything. So, lucky I have the results because I didn't hear anything on the night.
Okay, the winners (in brief):
Car with Character went to the limo - car 116
Car with Characters was 02. The Endeavour Clients. These guys were a great bunch of characters and into everything.
The Best Antic was car 440 - the Can Man. This crew did an awesome job, and had everyone aware of where they threw their cans.
Ladies Crew for the Rally went to car 117 the Crackerjacks.
Family Crew from the Rally was car 7 - Rod and Audra Pugh.
Supreme Promoter went to Car 087 the Wilson Family. They had many, many appearances in the local media and really promoted the Great Endeavour.
Ambassador Award went to Tex from car 015.
I will just do outright awards rather than class, as I am sure they will be on the new and improved, corporate website.
CRUISE OUTRIGHT:
5th - 02
4th - 031
3rd - 015
2nd - 010
1st - 025
RALLY OUTRIGHT.
10th - 44
9th - 109
8th - 89
7th - 53
6th - 707
5th - 90
4th - 40
3rd - 98
2nd - 46
1st - 7
A bit of inside info: Two of the cars in the top ten were actually a tie on points. To divide tied positions we work back on the dates the entry fee of $330 was paid, to position the cars. That is, if you paid your entry earlier, you get the higher position. Also affected, was position 12, where their is a tie, but both entered on the same date.
Highest fundraiser positions:
10th - 177
9th - 70
8th - 108
7th - 120
6th - 015
5th - 49
4th - 17
3rd - 185
2nd - 23
1st - 81
The best voted officials were C4. Curly has been with us for a long, long time and always does a fantastic job, as do all the officials. They certainly don't get the credit they deserve.
Allan Lawson won the supreme endeavour award. Jamie presented this and made note to the audience to look around, see the people they know because of the Rally, and think about the experiences they have had because of the rally, and this all began because someone had an idea. The idea came from Allan Lawson. He then went on to make the idea become what it is today. There were countless hurdles to overcome, but Allan overcame them. He deserves this trophy and the recognition. Thank you Allan.
On the night Jamie said a few lovely words about me. I was overcome to say the least. To see so many happy faces and to close this event for another year was an emotional experience. I cried when Matthew Jabbs spoke (the son of Gregg Jabbs who was honoured on the first day).
Coming home on Saturday morning, I'm not going to say we were lost, but we were heading in the opposite direction to 3 rally cars - all hoping to go past the same spot.
We called into McDonalds for breakfast, as did a lot of rally goers. I have made a mental note to inform the closest maccas for next years finish. They wouldn't have known what hit them.
Well all, for yet another year I've had my say.
I hope all are home, happy, safe and full of stories. Thank you all for making my trip a good one, and successful for all involved. As always I look forward to catching up with you throughout the year.
Regards,
Michelle Lawson.
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