Well, a year has passed since Car 925 left on its first Endeavour adventure and, after a year of intense fund raising, the new look 925 took off for the second time. From 16th to 25th July 2008 Kerry McLeish, Elisabeth Ranson and Karen Dixon were the "Aussie Maids".

This years' trek took us from Toowoomba to Baradine via Broken Hill. We were all very excited as we gathered at the Toowoomba Hockey Club in the early hours of the morning, cold but really proud. Our hard work and the generosity of our sponsors meant that we were the initial highest fund raisers as and such, we dressed up in our Vegemite gear and led the rally out of town and on its way to our destination 9 days away.

The first day saw us heading south through forestry tracks and along the Dumaresq River. After 505 kms we arrived at Nindigully. "Where the hell is that?" Well, it's somewhere near the NSW border and it has a pub a hall and a phone box. We pitched out tent and headed to the pub for dinner and "cowboys and cowgirls" night. We were pretty pleased with the day because we had finally learned how to calculate our distance and times.

Day 2 was Nindigully to Eulo. We donned our Ned Kelly gear, packed up the tent, head to brekky and headed out. We had 540 kms to cover today. We filed into the Eulo camp grounds at the end of the day. Another night camping. The showers were freezing so needless to say, it took us seconds to soap up, rinse off and get out. Tonight we were convicts, complete with balls and chains. The locals put on a magnificent feast and the night was rather mild under the most spectacular full moon you have ever seen.

By day 3 we finally got the hang of points scoring and timing. We had the best results in the rally today with only 4 points lost. We covered 480 kms to White Cliffs. We were pretty excited because we were booked into the Dugout Motel. What an experience!! The whole motel was chiselled out of a hill. The rooms were a constant 22 degrees and were ventilated by shafts that rose up to the surface. There was a huge staircase that climbed out of the hill to a viewing room where we could bear witness to the beauty of a desert sunset and sunrise.

Day 4 was only 349 kms and saw us heading to Broken Hill. We made a quick check up on the "Crackerjacks" (the other all girl team) before heading out. You see, the day before Rosie (the Crackerjack driver) had accidentally run over her sister Sharen which broke her ankle. You learn to appreciate how difficult it must be for the people living in the outback. Sharen had to carry her broken ankle for 2 days before she could get proper medical help in Broken Hill.

Today we made a quick stop at Silverton, the Hollywood of the west. Silverton is famous for such films as Mad Max and Priscilla. In fact, there is a Mad Max replica car that takes pride of place in front of the Silverton pub.

The beginning of day 5 had us rising up the Line of Lode lookout. This could very well have been the coldest place on earth. The wind ripped past us as we looked down over Broken Hill and bade them farewell. We were destined for Viewmont Station and 2 more nights camping.

We met up with the Super Endeavour Rally today. They had been all the way to Kalgoorlie in WA. After another 345 kms we pitched our tent and prepared for the cold nights ahead. There were huge bonfires to help warm us up but two toilets between 255 people just isn't enough.

We prepared for an afternoon of fun on Day 6. There was horse racing and two up. Of course all the money raised went to the Endeavour Foundation. We formed a syndicate with Car 33 and "Snot Racing" to buy a couple of race horses (toy heads on sticks). We hoped the dice would roll in our favour. "My Face" one of our horses, was the favourite and despite leading for most of the race, he was beaten at the post.

There was 534 kms to cover on Day 7 before we bedded down in Cobar. We didn't look that attractive dressed as the Dame Ednas and we didn't look any better dressed as "ho" Dame Ednas at the "pimps and hos" night. We certainly did stand out in our purple wigs and leopard skin dresses. We had a lovely baked dinner at the Cobar Bowls Club and the karaoke began. We found out the answer to that age old question......"Do you sound better when you sing into a microphone on stage in front of a captive audience?" For the majority of rally goers the answer is NO!! There were a couple of exceptions. I'm sure Johnny Cash was singing on stage at some time in the evening.

On Day 8 we headed for our final destination...Barradine. Just one more day til the end of our journey.

The final parade into town was nothing short of spectacular. We had our flags flying and our horns blaring. The police led the way and we pulled into the main street of Baradine along side of the stage and in front of the local townspeople. How did we fare this year? We had lots of fun, raised lots of money and helped raise the profile of Endeavour across the country. We waited anxiously for the presentation. What a bonus. We actually won two awards. We won the ladies division of the Great Endeavour Rally. (No doubt the other female team running over their own team member could have helped us.) We also received a trophy for the 5th highest fundraiser in the combined events. Overall we were placed 13th which we were very pleased with. It was a great bonus but we would have felt just as satisfied and content if we had walked away without trophies.

The Rally culminated in a huge street party with the locals. We had dinner in the hall and there was country music in the street. We had a chance to farewell new found friends for another year. We hugged the "Endeavour clients" and had our photos taken with them. After all, we were there for one main reason….to support the Endeavour Foundation and the tireless work they do for those people in our community with intellectual disabilities and their families. We are proud of the job we did and we thank our sponsors most graciously. We owe our fundraising trophy to our sponsors (listed below) and we owe our first place in the women's division to "Advanced Defensive & 4WD Centre Australia". Their sponsorship provided us with a 4 x 4 driving course and gave us a better understanding of how to handle our vehicle.

We have decided we would like to take part in the 2009 Great Endeavour Rally. It has become infectious. The cause, the camaraderie, the challenge, the experience of going into our outback communities and the opportunity of seeing the beauty that breathes in our land. These paragraphs have described only a small part of our experience but we'll take the memories with us forever.

Gold

• Westpac Agribusiness
• Power Tynan, Accountants  
• Plumbers Today 
• PI Direct
• VPN Solutions     
• BTK Communications 
• Baseline Training 
• Keytech Australia

Silver

• Ray White Commercial (Toowoomba)
• Browns Bookstore
• Sowerbys Towing & Smash Repair
• Advanced Defensive & 4WD Centre Australia
• Toshiba Australia
• Alex Surf Club  
• Downs Microsystems
• ICT Partners