The 2011 Great Escape is back on the road again for our 10th year!  

The rally will be travelling through towns including; Emmaville, The Gums, Emerald, Bowen River, Charters Towers, Forsayth, Undara Lava Tubes and finishing at Port Douglas on Wednesday 21st September.

See below for daily updates and come and see us if we are travelling through your town!  

     

A busy day for Terry and the Cystic Fibrosis team with the news this morning that car number 66 LowriderII was torched last night outside the hotel where the cousins Troy and Geoff Campbell were having dinner. 

We have been inundated with support from the Tamworth community and from the Great Escape Rally family – THANK YOU – and from that the boys will starting the rally tomorrow morning.

Sadly last night the brother’s car; number 66 – LowriderII, was torched outside the local Tamworth hotel where they were having dinner.  Unfortunately, the car and all it’s contents were totally destroyed but no one was hurt in the incident.  Another rally car parked beside it had petrol splashed onto it but thankfully only incurred some minor damage and they will be continuing on the rally. 

The wonderful town of Tamworthand the community of the Great Escape Rally entrants have all gotten behind the cousins and shown their support helping them to get back on the road.  The great news is the boys will be starting the rally with a Ford Falcon wagon, thanks to Andrew McGuirk Motors Tamworth however it may take them a while to be comfortable driving a Ford being Holden blokes!  Thanks also to Richie Thornton from LJ Hooker Tamworth and  A4E Consulting for providing tools and a new toolbox and a big thank you to everyone else for your support including the local, regional and national media.

Troy and Geoff Campbell have been coming on the rally since it started 10 years ago and have been wonderful supporters of Cystic Fibrosis and the Great Escape Car Rally. 

Below are the cousins with their car from last years rally, Troy is on the left and Geoff is on the right and photos of the car now sadly burnt out. 

  

 Media stories:

ABC New England North West – Anna Moulder

NBN News – Fire won’t douse charity event

The Northern Daily Leader – Vandals torch charity rally car in Tamworth    

 ABC New England North West – Great Escape from Vandals

And the rest of the day….

48 cars registered today for this years Great Escape Car Rally at the Tamworth Golf Club, a fantastic turn out, thank you to everyone.

Thanks to the Tamworth community for coming out and supporting our fun filled street parade.   As usual there were lots of antics and fundraising in preparation for the trip ahead.   Check out our Facebook page for more photos!

 

  

 

 The official welcome and start dinner was wonderful, everyone had a great time and the 10 year plaques were a hit. 

Jamie, our road boss every year creates a theme and this years them is “The Guardian Lamp”.  Craig Willis, a ten year veteran, had the honours of lighting the lamp tonight and during the rally, the lamp will be passed around the family.  The lamp will stay lit until the end of the rally when everyone arrives safe and sound at Port Douglas.

Ready, set, go… the 2011 Great Escape Car Rally started today after a wonderful breakfast put on by the Tamworth community.

Mr Paul Burnett, Tamworth Council General Manager flagged the cars off this morning from the Tamworth Tourist Centre with huge support from the Tamworth local community. 

 

Thanks to all the local Tamworth cabby’s who donated hundreds of dollars to help get the Campbell boys on the road again.

Terry Stewart, CEO of Cystic Fibrosis Australia came out of his hotel this morning to find “Rosie” the Cystic Fibrosis corporate rally car, glad wrapped!  Nice work rally family.

More importantly Terry wants to say a big thank you to the Tamworth community for all their support and help.

Thanks Tingha for the great welcome and for lunch…

So now we here at Emmaville…. and the VB boys are relaxing…

A huge thank you to Emmaville for your support, over $7,000 was raised by this wonderful town including a donation from the Local Silver Mine and lots of wonderful support from the locals.. thank you again!

 

Today we left Emmaville, thanks Emmaville Caravan Park and are on our way to The Gums via Inglewood.  Thanks to Inglewood Pony club for a fantastic lunch and to the local school children who came dressed in red to support Cystic Fibrosis.  Lots of kmstoday…..now we are out in the “sticks”… great travels with lots of fun and dirt for the cars to play in!  

Rosie and lots of other cars got bogged today in the river crossings…. and some made it through, good job Almost :-)

 

 

The cars setting up for the night at The Gums and  a big thank you to Roo Arcus for the sing-along, it was great to sit beside the campfire, enjoy the open sky and the stars and listening to you. 

  

We left The Gums today… 

First stop at Injunefor some lunch withthe local school children who dressed in red supporting Cystic Fibrosis and we also met up with a local mum and her wonderful 5 year old, Ashton whom has Cystic Fibrosis.  

The school children put on a great show for the rally family including a poem and a whip cracking show! Thanks so much for a great lunch stop!

Nice shady spot for a break!

We then found our way via many dirt roads, (where does Jamie find these??) to the Maraboon Tavern at Emerald to relax for the night and to enjoy pizza and pasta while the locals are enjoying a Beer Tasting Competition at the Tavern.. 

A long tiring two days, lots of dirt roads, bumps and hundreds and hundreds of km’s travelled….. Oh and if you are in town, listen out for us, it’s Karaoke night!!  We are sure you will hear us!!

More photos and information to come later, sorry poor mobile and Internet connection

Thanks Emerald for a great night last night…. we had lunch at Mt Coolan(see photos below) and then we swagged it at Bowen River Hotel….not too cold considering!  The Bowen River hotel was originally owned by a gentleman with Cystic Fibrosis whom sadly died at age 55. 

We had our “Rockabilly Ferrels at the Clampetts” theme night – Will there be lots of good photos from this?

We are in the “bush” so updates will be a bit slow, sorry… will post photos and information when we can.

Another day of dirt and dust in sunny QLD, we packed up our swags and left Bowen River this morning, stopping at Ravenswood for lunch and to check out the mining settlement and cottage.. and then onto Charters Towers for another fun night of activities.  Charters Towers is a wonderful town, lots of historic buildings…

The roads have been dusty and dirty as we like it, the tracks have been rough and challenging, as we like it but most of the cars are coming through it all ok!  However there have been some broken steering racks and broken shock absorber and ball joints to name a few injuries!  The mud and slop around the Darling Downs was bit challenging for the cars but most made it through with just lots of cleaning to do!!

The Campbell boys are doing well, having a great time except for the occassional complaint about being in a Ford!! 

Below are photos of the beautiful Railway Hotel at Ravenswood, where we stopped for lunch.   As you can see Terry and Rosie had a nice time relaxing at the pub!  Hope Rosie got a beer for all her hard work

Left Charters Towers and headed into the sticks!  A much shorter day after a few long days… arrived in Oak Park for some lunch and a chance to see some horse racing!  Fantastic night of Bow Ties & Bowlers & Fancy Fillies… photos to come later, sorry no phone or Internet reception

Unfortunately we have had a vehicle rollover, we are pleased to say everyone involved will be ok. It was Colleen and Debbie from car number 39, the Oohh Nnoo car or better know as the Camel car!  Both girls were admitted to hospital.  It’s been a rough day for the rally family as everyone has been concerned about the girls and all our thoughts and wishes go to them. More details to come when we have them….

Travelling some remote and back roads of QLD today, from Oak Park to Forsayth via the Lynd Junction and Roadhouse.  Not too longer day but it will be dirty and dusty again!  More importantly it was a rough day emotionally as the rally family were worried about Colleen and Debbie.   Colleen was released from hospital today with a fractured collar bone and Debbie has come out of surgery on her skin lacerations well.  Our thoughts and wishes go to the girls and to Craig and Robert. Will keep you updated…

Tonight we had a cake to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Cystic Fibrosis Great Escape, over $3m dollars raised to help find a cure and help families and people with Cystic Fibrosis.

Today we left Forsayth to the wonderful Undara where the spectacular Lave Tubes are, luckily Jamie the road boss has given us time off to go and see this amazing feature.

An update on the Girls and the accident; great news… Both Colleen and Debbie are doing well. Colleen is out of hospital with a fractured collarbone and has her arm in a sling! Debbie remains in hospital but is doing well after surgery yesterday on skin lacerations, she is expected to be released from hospital by the end of the week. Police are satisfied that a tyre blowout was the cause of the accident and the car has been towed to Lynde for them to get it home at a later stage.

A HUGE thank you to Peter and Janelle Stevens who were on their way back to Townsville when they heard about the accident on the UHF. They helped organise the care-flight helicopter and offered their home in their Townsvillefor accommodation. Craig and Colleen are currently staying withthem and Robert will be staying with them until Debbie is ok to travel home, what wonderful people and Craig wanted especially to thank them for their fantastic support and hospitality.

Also thank you to Frank and Belinda Corby and Darrel and Kylie Heiner for being first on the scene and helping the girls.  And thank you to everyone else for their enquiries, well wishes, help and support.

 Tomorrow we arrive and finish the rally at Port Douglas.

Woooo hoooo, this was the last day of dirty, dusty and rough roads but once we are back home, we are going to miss the fun and the rally family and will start planning and looking forward to next year!

Thanks Undara for a fantastic experience!  Today we stopped at Mareeba for some lunch and then continued onto the finish line at Port Douglas.  

Today the cars did a street parade with the LJ Hooker Bear and have some fun to celebrate the finish of our 10th rally to raise funds and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis.  The Great Strides Walk was also on and we joined together for the street parade and at Anzac Park for a big celebration with a BBQ and entertainment.

More photos are on our Facebook page and on Angus Waddell Photography website.

A huge thank you to everyone involved in the Cystic Fibrosis Great Escape Car Rally, all the entrants,  the organisers including Jamie the road boss and Sharon E, the towns we have travelled near and through, the people we have met along the way, the sponsors and supporters for every car and the media…. you are all what makes this so special and help us to raise important funds and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis.

Thank you everyone, we raised just over $400,000 for this year’s rally, this money will help researchers continue to find a cure.

Thanks again and take care everyone!