Sorry we missed a couple of day’s, might have been the whiskey, could of been the rum….. Anyway Day 7 was Esperence to Kalgoorlie, bit of dirt, bit of tarmac, couple of funstops and some very nice scenery. We stopped after lunch to give moral support to 977 (fellow Kiwi) whilst he replaced a broken axle. We helped as much as we could….. On to Kalgoorlie where we ventured to the look out of the Super Pit (now that is one big mine site!) took a couple of photo’s and then to the check in. Fairly uneventful really.

Day 8 was a “lay day” in Kalgoorlie, where many of the cars had things fixed, we had to fix our flashing light and blinker, hard day. In the morning we took a tour into the “super pit” and saw a whole extra perspective of mining, trucks carrying 200 tonnes of rubble from the bottem to the crushers, man that is some big machinery. The afternoon took us across the road to the beer, prawns and ice cream in the park, where we also had the medic’s complete blood pressure and cholestrol; you’ll be pleased to know we are all fit and healthy! The night took us to dinner at the Miner’s Museum, where the history of Kalgoorlie was well explained. A couple of auctions saw us loose one of our team for the day due to a bribe where a team was down to only one!

Day 9 and we have arrived at Albany (without J.D. who was helping out in car 978) after a very big drive (680km’s) and over 360 of that on the highway, which is fairly boring straight roads. The morning was about 320km’s of very dusty dirt road, and the team captain had forgotten to oil the dust filters, so thanks mate, the Merc couldn’t get enough air and the cabin is now “orange”; thanks mate….Lunch was at “Wave Rock”, where the formation of the earth has caused a big breaking surf like wave to form. Nothing exciting, but it could be a reasonable night considering it is “cut-out” night for Marbles.

Early start as we had a rather restless night crammed into a small room and it had been a huge day in the Bistro for Micki and Marbles and the chain saws were in great harmony! 764 km’s and we arrived in pole position, around half on dirt and sand through the Balladonia State forest sutible for 4WD under 3 tonne so that kind of matched our description (3 and a half ton and 2 wheel drive)! After an emergency medical stop for Micki at the 230km mark (don’t stop there again..). Great navigating by Marbles and a very enjoyable drive by myself with some challenging spots and plenty of pedal to the metal with the long straight distances. Once again the car went hard all day with no dramas and everyone arrived safe ready for another good night in picturesque Esperance.
regards JD.

Iain drove today, and we got all the way to the WA border. We peeked our nose over it, then came back again to crash for the night on the SA side. We cleared quarantine at the border and were helped out by the WA Police giving the cars a pressure clean. This was a quarantine precaution, but they really needed a clean up after about 650 km’s on the road and nearly 400 on the dirt. What a great driving day; we spent the last 280 or so km’s on the old dirt Eyre Hwy, and Iain still can’t get the smile off his face - great fun with washouts and very wet slippery mud. The only downer was some unfortunate roadkill, as you can see in the pictures below.
As for our other 3 intrepid bashers - well - it was a long day in the car, and the boredom may have encouraged a little more imbibation than was prudent. I’m SURE they’ll wash up well in the morning. I’m HOPING they’ll wash up well in the morning. We’ll see if they’re able to get up in the morning …
Seems we’re still doing well for Variety. JD’s been fined for putting Rotools signs on the car without a donation, Iain’s been fined for failing to bring a perfectly good bash car on the event, and Mick and Ross have been handing out bribes to just about everyone else with abandon. It’s all for the kids!

Mick drove today, and we set a cracking pace, right out of the blocks. During the morning, we decided he needed a handicap, so offered a $1000 bribe (for the kids) to Variety, provided he didn’t overtake anyy more cars. Despite being hobbled, the rest of the day went very well, and we arrived on time. As usual, meals were well catered and plentiful, lunch being especially well catered for at Port Footy Club. A highlight yesterday was a little boy coming up to us to give us his pocket money ($2) for the Variety Charity. He was impressed by all the strange cars and stranger people. It’s the sort of thing that makes this event special, as well as fun!
Some long dirt sections and very bad weather made this a real “Bash” day. We stopped to help one car back onto the road, after they slid off, and made it to Streaky Day for a well earned beer … and red wine … and sambucca … and grand manier … and baileys …
The car’s going great - we reckon this mercedes is unbreakable!

Sorry for the delayed updates,as we have had limited reception!
It was my turn back in the “Bistro” with Marbles at the wheel and Micky navigating,unfortunatly Micky had eaten a bad “prawn” the night before which had given him a rather uncomfortable headache and was unable to speak clearly.But he was still able to navigate with sign language and grunts which was enough to get us to our destination.As usual we had great meals put on by the local social clubs of the towns we stopped at, and pleanty of excited kids and well wishers along the way.The Bash had booked the old steam driven Ghan railway for a step back in time but unfortunatly the 2 hour trip took around 5 hours due to traction problems and running at full load capacity but we got there in the end.Car is going very well and we have had no problems at all! I’m sure Mick will be looking forward to his Steer tomorrow after a good nights sleep,which may not be so easy as we are all bunked into a backpackers as accomadation is limited in Quorn.

Well, day 2 is over and day 3 about to begin. Mick has just walked in the door and it’s not a pretty sight. A few too many Grand Manier’s last night? A big driving day yeterday, although we’re still not past Adelaide yet. Dinner last night was at Peter Lehmann’s Winery, a bit of a chance to partake in the local Barossa Valley product.
It’ll be interesting to see how the car shapes up today - there were a few spillages, and it’ll be smelling a bit like a disusused brewery - might have an interesting effect on the constitutions of a few car420 bashers?

During the day, JD did a great job driving, managing to keep ‘The Emu’ at bay until we decided to stop for some relief. Later, Ross decided to help out with a bit of mowing at one of the pubs, and they were so delighted with his efforts that they sold him a bottle of Sambucca for only twice the usual price - great work there Marbles!

We’re off to Quorn today, with the ‘A Team’ in the front seat. Ross driving, Mick ‘navigating’ … this might be the last time anyone hears from us. JD and Iain will be relaxing in the bistro back seat.

Car 420 is holding up fine, with just a few rattles (and some seats sogged out with beer) to show for 2 days of bashing. Team “All Wallies”, signing out.

WE MADE IT TO MT GAMBIER!
It was a wild and wooly day! Floods and rivers running over the road, but the old Merc soldiered through without complaint. We started the morning in Ballarat near Lake Wendouree. It was roughly minus 20 degrees (would we exagerate?) and ice was forming on our extremities. We had a meal and the official send-off, in our team uniform. Workshorts and artfully constructed All Wally’s shirts with Wallaby and All Black emblems. To top it off we had our Wallies hats, yellow and black socks and crocs. I don’t know fashion, but I know what I like … but we wore it anyway.
After polishing off a good number of bottles of red wine last night, there was a subdued atmosphere in the car to begin with, but that old “Bash Spirit” soon established itself.
We found our way out of Ballarat, then weaved our way through back roads and byways, crossing rivers and static lakes on the road. We had about 30 km’s of dirt driving, and arrived in Mt Gambier after a lunch in Hamilton.
Crappy wet windy weather - we’re looking for improvement.
NEWSFLASH - we just saw ourselves on the WIN news. Send in a small donation for autographs!

Regards, Team All Wallies, car 420.
PS - drop us an email at car420@penman.biz if you’re reading this. It’d be nice to know we’re not wasting our time, and we can answer your questions or perform your ‘dares’ along the way.

We’re having trouble uploading pictures at the moment, but we’ll get some up when we can.

The Bash is on again for 2010. Check back here for updates.