22, 23,August

We have had difficulty with reception. Sorry about the lack of communication.

It has been a very busy few days. We had the National Rally with cars from all states participating in a procession down the main street of Alice Springs. There were about 600 cars that took part - some very interesting cars.

Breakfast was at the Transport Museum - we saw some excellent potential Bash Cars - some great food and entertainment. Dick Smith the founder of Bashing also spoke to us, to inspire us to cheat as much as we can and to break as many rules as we can - Thank you Dick.

It was then down to the banks of the Todd River for the infamous Henley on Todd. For the Cupcake Girls it was time to put their boat together with the help of our other two partners the Red Lea Girls. Thank to Team Toshiba we got the boat up and running. We did a few practise runs on the grass. It was certainly a bright little/large number. We then had to rest before the big race.

We were in the BYO Boat race. It was a parade around the arena and then the race. We certainly were the most attractive boat as the others were just frames with runners. At the start gun we were off, but crashed on the corner. Negotiating 4 m of boat around a drum proved too much. We won a $150 voucher for the best boat. Looking good is what it is all about... they auctioned the voucher for us and we got $190 for Variety

In the evening we had a National Dinner with Basher's from all states about 2500 - what a great night with excellent entertainment. A real credit to them.

Sunday was a big drive back to Coober Pedy, we all set off at our own pace as there were 3 routes you could take. We chose the Bash route which took us down many dusty roads finishing at the Breakaways outside of Coober Pedy.