04 Jun 2013
Early Sunday morning about 140 cars (including about 30 support vehicles) gathered at Mount Panorama in Bathurst for the start of this year's rally. This rally is a navigational exercise and drivers and navigators find their way from place to place along back roads that can be quite difficult to negotiate. It is not a race and drivers, while they test their skills, are not competing against the clock.
Competitors are involved because of their love of their cars, the mateship between teams and all are keen to help raise much-needed funds to keep the Royal Flying Doctor Service in the air. Even before the event started they had amassed just over $1.5 million for this worthwhile cause.
The first leg was made quite challenging after reasonably heavy rains during the night before the event. Roads were sticky and slippery but with care, everyone arrived in Wellington without mishap.
We were lucky that the organisers had approached our school P&C to cater for their drivers and support crews by providing a much-needed lunch break.
It was wonderful how parents, community members and school personnel came together to offer a warm welcome and lots of their country hospitality.
No one went hungry with a choice of soups, bread rolls, slices, cakes, tea and coffee.
Our visitors were very appreciative of what the community had put together for them and words of praise flowed freely.
The hall had been set up and everything was waiting when the first cars started to arrive about midday. The cars kept rolling in for the next two and a half hours and so there was lots of opportunities to talk to the car crews and look at their vehicles.
Most of the competitor's cars were pre-1973 and came in a variety of makes, colours and themes. Some of the crews went to a lot of trouble dressing up and a big favourite with the kids were the golfers with their give-away lolly-pops, the undertakers and the cockroaches.
Our students were not to be outdone because collectively they had produced a colourful mural depicting the Wellington Valley with its rolling hills and with hundreds of rally cars, all making their way to Wellington Public School.
This had been a fantastic fundraising event and everyone who helped to make the day such a success is to be congratulated on a job well done!
Special mention must also be made of our school's student leadership team. Our Captains, Vice-Captains and Prefects all had a significant involvement in the planning of the day and seeing it right through to the actual event. What a terrific learning experience.