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Pics of trip



Day 28: Last Day - 1 Train to Sydney

ben and chan managed to miss the bus they had booked the previous day by a matter of minutes, possibly due to maybe one can of bundy too much the night before. however this set back wouldn't deter them from making it back to Sydney town for the end of the race. so they had to walk out to the highway and attempted to start hitching, when mother nature decided to give Tamworth some much needed rain, which is fantastic for tamworth, but very bad for hitching - no one wants to pick up 2 rain drenched strangers. so inside the local Beaurepairs they headed to dry off and begin plan - b! there wasn't a lot of smiling going on at this stage, but they managed to keep it together and think about other options.

so after a bit of searching on the internet (a big thanks to Adam and his team at Telstra for donating the wireless broadband for them for the trip - truthfully in situations like this i'm sure they greatly appreciated it!) they managed to get one of the last few tickets on the train back to Sydney later on that morning. the money that was donated along the way, came in very handy that day! so train it was!

Day 27 - Tamworth Country Music Festival

Was spent wandering around Tamworth checking out some really cool music and street performers! we even managed to get a plug by one performer at the Albert hotel. www.myspace.com/abbiecardwell. check this girl out if you haven't! a real gem of a singer and girl! go Abby! there was also some sort of bull riding competition between some teams. ben put in a huge effort, which made everyone who was there think that maybe he has a talent for it! was there something he's been hiding all these years

Day 26 - Lismore to Tamworth: 2 cars, 1 truck and 1 caravan

maybe it was because of the music festival and the golden guitar they were about to salute, as although it took 2 cars, 1 truck and 1 caravan to get us there, they waited little more than 5 mins each time to get a lift! finally Trevor picked them up and took them under his wing as he is a seasoned Tamworth music festival goer. he arranged them a camp site, cooked them dinner and breakfast and also a couple of sneaky beers! what a champ! the only downside to the camping was the man who slept in his ute next to us, who when he snored sounded like a wild animal!

Day 25 - Lismore

chan's mates kerry and tony put us up at the retreat in the forrests outside of lismore. they treated us to a night of music, darts, kebabs, red wine ands lots of laughs! late the next morning (as people who will remain namelss were a little under the weather) tony cooked us up a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs, before dropping us at the outskirts of lismore to get a lift to tamworth. yehaw! thanksCath is driving us to Lismore. Stopped at Byron for a swim.

Day 24: Brisbane

Feed the homeless at the Salvos and get picked up by Ben's friend Cath who drives us to the Gold Coast. We stayed with her and had some dinner.

Day 23: Fraser Island

Lucky for us, as lord mayor he has some contacts, he arranged for us all to go to Fraser island today and have a day tour there at kingfisher island resort. Ee had a small tour of Fraser island, swam in the pool and ate like kings. Ben and I even managed a romantic stroll along the beach before we set off back to the mainland, where ray and Vickie cooked us up some chilli con carne.

We're all set to head to Brisvegas. the boys from team 4 managed to score a lift with a girl already, but Ben and i will have to get our thumbs out again.

Just scored 2 lifts to Brissy. Caught a bus to Max's house and stayed there the night.

Day 22: Hervey Bay - 1 trusty van

Ben and I hitched from Rockhampton yesterday with max and Tatiana, who are in Australia for a working holiday. Their trusty van made it all the way - check out the sticker! heezagoer!

We arrived in Hervey bay to meet our lovely hosts Ray and Vickie Willshire, who had already hooked us up for a meal at the wonderful restaurant blazing saddles that evening. once team 4 arrived after something like 7 lifts from Mackay that day, tony the owner cooked us up a wonderful feed and also supplied us with enough liquid refreshments to wash it all down with.

we also met up with mick Krueger, the local mayor, who was completely on board with spreading the mates race love.

Day 21: Airlie Beach

So wrap up of today

left early today from Airlie as it was raining very hard. caught a local bus to Proserpine, where we got immediately picked up by cairns local mark, who we suspect thought that we would match his car nicely -green! (image 34311) he also bought us a very delicious coffee-good one mark! he dropped us in Mackay, and again we waited for approximately 15 mins before 2 Sarina local girls, Rhiannen and Caitlen (image 3432), picked us up in their Daihatsu charade and after a quick tour of Sarina dropped us off the local Caltex for our next adventure. they did offer to come and take us in for the night, but we managed to get another lift from a Carmila local mark, who took us not only 70kms up the road to Carmila, but also to his lovely home and gave us a cuppa, piece of fruit cake, tour of farm and dried mango that his mum Judy has made. (image 3436). then we managed to get a lift with German tourists max and Tatiana, who have taken us to Rockhampton today and we may even manage a sneaky lift to Hervey bay tomorrow!

Big day for team number 5, which ended in a fine meal of instant pasta and 2-minute noodles (chicken flavoured!) off to bed now ready for Hervey bay!

Day 20: Cairns - Greyhound Coach

Had an interview with channel 7 this morning outside the Greyhound depot. We are getting on the 9am bus after being stuck here yesterday. Apparently the roads are back open but they can close at any minute. Will let you know. If we get through we are going all the way to Airlie Beach.

Day 19: Darwin to Cairns - 1 Jetstar Flight

Day 18: Darwin Litchfield National Park

Ben and i got a sneaky tour of Litchfield with my mate nat today. the photos are attached, a bit of swimming in the rock holes and water falls. gearing up now to head out.

Day 17: Darwin

Hung out at Rob and Nats today. Was pretty hung over from last night. Watched TV and went out to dinner in Cullum Bay.

Day 16: Darwin

Then last night, we ended up at my mates' from Alice Nat and Robbie. they took us out today in Darwin for a driving tour and when asked what do you do in Darwin, they said "drink!" so that's what ben and i did today! sick!

Day 15: Kununurra to Darwin - 1 Car of Honeymooners

We took the o-night bus ride from Broome to Kununurra! We ended up at the local BP and chris and max headed up the road to try their luck hitching. We stayed at the BP, just being lazy, then a 4wd rolled up, who chris and max had already bailed up, and i decided to approach. They were quite apprehensive at first but my wit and charm worked a treat, and the took us all the way to Darwin. Little did we know that they were on their honeymoom! argh! internet dating couple and them honeymoon! their names were Alison and Doug! great couple from Gove in Arnhem land!

Day 14: Broome to Kununurra - 1 Greyhound

Nursing sunburn this morning, bus to Kununurra tonight. using up our Greyhound pass as the roads to East coast are flooded in the Nothern Territory.

Day 13: Broome

Went to Cable Beach with team 4. Met a local guy, Ian, who gave us a tour of the town followed by fish and chips and beers. Watched "Australia" at Garden Cinema on the house plus popcorn.

Day 12: Port Hedland to Broome


Day 11: Karratha to Port Hedland - 2 Cars, 1 Truck

Got picked up by a miner pretty early and a coule of girls who saw the segment on Channel 10. That put us only a few KM's out of town at the local truck stop. We hitched for hours and hours in the heat and were lucky to score a lift from a truckie that is going to Port Hedland. Arrived late in the day.

Day 10: Karratha

Spent the morning trying to hitch out but it was too bloody hot. Plus we didnt get any offers so we decided to hit up the local pool. $3.50 entry so pretty sweet. stayed for a couple of hours and then got a night at the Best Westin donated to us which was really nice. We had an air-conditioned room and we spoilt ourselves by ordering pizza. Will try and hit the road early.

Day 9: Perth to Karratha

Headed out to highway this morning looking to get to Geraldton. Just got picked up by Gail and Trevor who are going 40km south of Geraldton. Sweet. I am pretty sure they picked us up because they felt sorry for us. Good people. Dropped at Bungarra where Michael the truckie picked us up and dropped us 10km out of Geraldton next to some housing development. Then Gary a local secrurity guard dropped us off at the 440 Gull servo on the fringe of town. Just as we got out of his car we got another lift from a truck driver all the way to Karratha. SWEET.

Day 8: Perth - 1 Old Bus with a dog

The team finally arrvied into Perth. They are in last place but that counts for nothing now because all the teams are in Perth to complete the Charitable Challenge on Cott Beach.

After challenge Belinda a friend of Chandlers shouts them fish and chips at the beach and then takes them back to her house where they wash clothes and wind down after an exhausting trip across the Nullabor. They have an Aussie BBQ at night and hit the hay.

Day 7: Eucla to Noorseman - 1 Old Bus with a dog

Spent all day driving at a top speed of 90KM. Spent a few hours sleep at Noorseman before continued driving through the night to Perth.

Day 6: Ceduna to Eucla - 1 Old Bus with a dog

The team hit the road early and after spending about 2 hours without any luck a couple who was heading in the other direction actually turned around and gave them a can of coke each and $20. Then a old bus came past with a dog in it and a character called Nole who wasn't going to Perth today but only 30km up the road to a friends house. After his friend was'nt home Nole decided to turn around and drive back to pick up the team and instead of taking 10 days, which was how long he intended to get to Perth, he hammered the old bus to get them across the Nullabor ASAP. They spent NYE in Eucal with a 6 pack and some dinner cooked on a small stove. In bed by 10:00pm

Day 5: Adelaide to Ceduna - 2 Cars

After a pretty succesful BBQ the day before spirits were high. A friend of Chandlers, Miss Penny Charlesworth was going up to Port Augusta to visit a mutual friend so she gave them a lift. The team then scored a lift from Ryan and Abelone diver from Streaky Bay who dropped them into Perlubie Bay about 100km south of Ceduna. They camped on the beach.

Day 4: Adeliade

The guys decided to stay another night in Adelaide after organising to work in a Pub there by putting on a BBQ for the locals to raise some money. They completed the Charitable challenge in Rundle Mal early and did a spot of busking before moving onto the pub to setup for the evening. Chandler made $100 as a glassy and Ben $80 on the bar, who said women don't get as much as men! They also scored $265 from the BBQ. NICE.. They will have to move their butts if they want to make it to Perth for NYE however i dont think they will mind where they end up.

Day 3: Adelaide - 1 Car

Luke, a good friend of Chandlers, picked up the team arriving with a basket of fresh fruit and a case of cold Coronas (not doing it tough!!). He drove them into their hometown of Adelaide. The guys then caught up with friends and family.

Day 2: Mel to Koonawarra - 2 Cars

Ben and Chan motored it out of Melbourne thanks to Brigit and friend of theirs who picked them up and drove them to Geelong. They then got another lift from a friend Dru who picked them up and got them hard at work in his cellar, www.bayofapostles.com.au, they then had a few glasses of vino in Coonawarra and stayed the night.

Day 1: Syd to Mel - 1 Car, 1 Bus