Day 7 - The last leg.

Day 7 – the last day of the rally, and it was an early start. But, man was it worth it. After the traditional high fiber, low fat breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages and toast, we boarded a ferry for a cruise along Katherine Gorge, seriously unbelievable. There was even some Aboriginal rock art to be taken in. After this it was a quick trip into Katherine to fill up with petrol, then cruise on up to Jabiru before heading on into Darwin……..or so we thought. The Alfa decided that it had gone far enough, with the front wheel bearings objecting to being alive and wanted to be euthanaised. So, an appropriate car park opposite a park was selected, and the bearings were re-packed over the next hour and a half. While this was happening, Dan took the radiator out of the ‘rona, reversed flushed it, and re-installed it. This was in the hope that the overheating issues would be sorted out. During this time EVERYBODY else in the rally took off, except for Mexican with Anchovies, whose timing gear in there 1979 HQ Holden crapped itself. What a bloody pity, to make it so far, then to have it crap itself 350 km from Darwin. A team in the rally owned the workshop that it was being worked on in Katherine. These boys drove a disabled taxi from Katherine to Brisbane back to Darwin, and they were the first to pitch in, try and find some timing gear, and attempt to get it going. This pretty much sums up the spirit that 90% of the people on the rally. Brilliant.

Katherine Gorge

Again - magnificant

Aboriginal rock art - 40,000 year old painting of an extinct rock wallaroo

Running repairs on the Alfa

After getting the cars going again we took off for Darwin. As we were so late, we had no choice but head straight there. On the way we stopped at Pine Creek for lunch, and Adelaide River as the ‘rona, the Dolly and the Eloise all overheated and needed a rest. It was a very boring drive up to Darwin with not a lot to see.

The assembly point in Darwin was the show grounds, and the three of us were the first ones there, despite the postings on Facebook that the ‘rona and the Alfa were out. Who would have thought, the oldest car in the field, and two cars renowned for being unreliable and temperamental, would make 3800 km along some seriously hard roads. What an amazing feeling, and what an incredible journey.

Once all the cars assembled, in the carpark, and several beers were drunk, all the remaining shitboxes travelled in a convoy into the hotel. 100 cars with their headlights on in a row going through the middle of Darwin was brilliant, and it was even more brilliant to be a part of it. It is fair to say that we all had a generous dollop of happy emotion. After several more beers, the auctions started. The Dolly went for $200, sold to the auctioneer, the ‘rona for $250 and sold to one of the Mexican with Anchovies, and the Alfa for $500 to……somebody.

The 'rona at the finish line

The Shitbox Angles - these girls rock!

Cheers to that!

Made it - and I'm seriously wrapped

Team America celebrating

Scuderia Shitbox celebrating

The ninja spirit!!

The cars ready for auction  - $25000 came from this

I want to say now thanks to everybody that has donated to this, helped out in anyway, and supported us in our endeavors. I feel very lucky to have been able to have this experience. I also want to say it has great meeting Sheldon and Rex – New Zealand’s version of Kramer – the Shitbox Angels, the blokes from support 2, and random other people along the way.

I especially want to thank my wife – she is the most amazing person and I am truly lucky that I was the one she thought she could spend the rest of her life with.

Finally, for me, this was done to honour the memory of my mum. She died on the 15^th of January 1989 from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She was 40 years old. Wherever her soul is – I hope she is proud of what we have achieved.

Some final stats:

Total kilometers travelled: 3800 km

Total time on the road: 7 days

Cost of petrol consumed by the ‘rona: $567

Cost of petrol consumed by the Dolly: more than the ‘rona

Total liters of coolant used: 1234567890987654321 L

Total amount of beer drunk by 5 blokes: 99999999999999999 stubbies

Total amount of girly drinks drunk by Eloise: 9999999999

Total road kill seen: 766876876876 bodies

Total road kill by the Dolly: 6

Number of spark plugs: 200

Number of air filters: 2

Sticks of silver seal used: 2

Amount of WD40 used: 972235899235 cans

Number of dead shitboxes: 7

Total amount raise: $647000

Total raised by The Knack: $5118

Total raised by Team America: $4507

Total amount of breakdowns by the three cars: somewhere between 18 and 20000

Number of amazing experiences: infinite