A rally driving a two-wheeled drive down outback roads meant for four-wheeled drives in order to raise money for the Cancer Council of Australia was “definitely an adventure”.
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The Tarraganda team of Kaela Barnes and her mother Gina have recently returned from the Mystery Box Rally, one of the requirements of which is driving an old car – so they took a 26-year-old Mitsubishi Magna along the mostly unsealed, dusty roads.
The five-day rally started in Mildura on October 20, then in a giant loop took in roads past Broken Hill north to Milparinka near the Queensland border, from Innamincka in far north eastern South Australia to the Flinders Range, then back to where the rally began.
“It was definitely an adventure!” Kaela said.
“A lot of the places we went to I’d never have thought to go to, a lot of tiny towns.”
With some of the cars breaking down on the road and needing to be taken back to a town on the back of a trailer, Kaela said she was surprised her car made it through to the end.
“It was a good car to start with and it was well looked after, but the roads were quite different to what I was used to!” she said.
“On some of the roads we went down there was a bit of ‘are we going to make it home or not’ mentality.”
The second day from Milparinka to South Australia was the worst day where they ran into a few problems.
Their Mitsubishi got three holes in the fuel tank from rocks then the transmission stump also got a hole in it, but luckily the mechanics with the rally fixed the holes “pretty much on the spot”.
Kaela said seeing the diversity in the landscape across Australia was incredible and while she has done a lot of travelling overseas she was now encouraged to see more of her own country.
“One thing we noticed is it’s so green in Bega compared to everywhere else we travelled,” she said.
She was glad for the chance to share the experience with her mother.
“There were a few intense days where we’d be driving along and I’d have Mum holding her breath when we hit a bump!” she said.
“But it was good to spend time with her. It was a good time to talk and experience the journey together.”
The aim of the rally was to raise funds for the Cancer Council of Australia, with the Tarraganda family pulling together $3700 for the cause.
Donations remain open but will close soon. To donate to the Barnes’s cause, visit their online fundraising page at 2018.mystery-box.com.au/chilli-bin-bandits.
Albert McKnight
Journalist at Bega District News.
Journalist at Bega District News.
