The Outback Lassies Adventure

Bridgetown’s ‘Outback Lassies’, Michelle Wright and Kathryn Holland, are two-person team who participated in the Spring Shitbox Rally in October, the rally being a ‘fun way’ for ‘Outback Lassies’ to take part in the largest community-lead fundraiser for the Cancer Council in Australia.

Also, it was the rally which had them travelling from Mackay to Darwin via the Savannah Way in a ‘shit box’ of a car.

So how did they fare, and did their ‘shitbox’, a 2003 Holden Astra stay the distance?

A very enthused Michelle tells us how she found the rally, “It was a wild experience, one that I will always remember. The nights were hot and the days where very hot, the country was as wonderous and as vast as you could ever imagine the outback to be, the only way I’d ever be able to travel the Savannah Way was in this very well supported way, it was a once in a life time adventure for me.

“There were 500 participates, 200 support crew and 250 cars. Every night along the way the local service clubs such as Lions, Apex or Rotary would cater the meals with the support crews keeping us fed and watered from the hard day of driving.

“The support crews were also the most amazing bush mechanics ever, their ingenuity was tested every day: when windscreens where smashed, the rear window came out as a replacement, when radiators where punctured by stones they had a way of stopping the leaks by using common household ingredients such as sachets of pepper. Cola cans skins and builders bog were used for sump repairs and any other oil leak which appeared. In the morning the engine was purring nicely again and ready for the day ahead.

“We travelled in buddy groups of eight cars. The roads were badly corrugated and the river crossings were challenging and I drove the car like I didn’t own it, yes ‘thrashed’ would be a good descriptive of my driving style.”

A still excited Kathryn continues the tale, “It has been such a wonderful experience, it gave me more then I ever expected. Really it was the most non-stop belly laughing, exciting experience I have ever had, some of the laughter was because of anxious moments, but mostly it was just a lot of fun.

“Now I want to experience it all over again, I have signed up to do it next year along with a new driving buddy, Estelle.

“As marvelous as the support crew were, our car lasted up until the last day, we hit a large bull dust hole in the road, damaging our steering struts to such an extent the two front wheels were pointing in different directions and the car was deemed unroadworthy so we had to join another car crew and be passengers for the last day.

“But our Holden Astra isn’t done with just yet, it will start its new life as a ‘bush basher’ vehicle on a farm. We sold the car to one of the support crew.

“We met with, lived with and struggled through some interesting times with the best people you are ever likely to meet. A lot of those on the rally, participants and support crews, all had in one way or another been touched by that awful disease cancer and they were giving back a little by participating in the rally.

“The rally this year raised $1.9 million for the Cancer Council of Australia as well as providing a lot of fun for all of us who took part in the venture.”