Tuesday 19 October 2010

Day 4 - Mooloolaba to Rainbow Beach to Hervey Bay!!

Day 4 of esCarpade saw Team Booger Mobile heading for breakfast early - it was to be the first school visit!!


Oh, and the boys were in the paper again... this time on page 10 of the Sunshine Coast Daily. Scottie's wife Katie had contacted them to let them know that the esCarpade was passing through and that there was a local entry... If you want to read the full article, it's here: http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2010/10/19/camp-quality-escarpade-scott-durston-ford/

The first school visit was Maroochydore State School... this is a view of the coastline at Maroochydore... tough life eh?


Breakfast was a manic affair, with cameras and media everywhere!! Kate (a former CQ camper who lives on the coast) heard that it was on and came down to say g'day to Damian!


This is the cafe where breakfast was served..



At driver briefing time, the crowd swelled to a sea of colour...


Blue teams (Team Booger Mobile is in Blue Sharks) went in convoy to the Maroochydore State School, parking gently on the oval.


The kids gathered around and went crazy as the goodies were distributed, and a small water fight broke out!!


Booger Mobile was looking resplendant as per usual...


Scottie got a bit too close to the water fight action, and was soon feeling the love!!


Shortly later, the boys headed inside (with the rest of the esCarpadians) for a puppet show by the Camp Quality puppets, and a rousing rendition of Peter Coombe's song "Juicy Juicy Green Grass".



If you've not had the pleasure of hearing this song, do yourself a favour and check it out here, but be warned, you'll have the tune stuck in your head for days!!


The kids watched the puppets intently, the message being it's not what's outside that's important, it's what's inside that's important!!

Gratuitous plug for sponsors the Caloundra City 4WD Club and Jesus Metal.

Some members of the CC4WD Club had headed up to the Noosa North Shore to assist with recoveries if required, however due to the rocks being exposed at Rainbow Beach, the call was made to not travel via the beach, but all vehicles would use the Cooloola Way route notes instead.


Scottie driving with his jester hat on!



Under a low and rickety looking train bridge...



Up into the mountains, to find a fairly heavily rutted, steep downhill run.



The boys stopped to assist entrant 201 with an accelerator cable issue (twice). Clearly the boys had some experience to offer with accelerator cables!!


Up past the Tewantin State School, horns blaring and lights flashing...


There was a bit of bitumen driving in this section, but a whole lot of dirt too!!


Back into the forest again...



Emergency stop to avoid an echidna strolling from left to right across the road...



Then onto the Cooloola Way!!



Entrant 201 and one of the official vehicles out the back windscreen...



Team BSL01 were stopped performing some fairly serious maintenance to their nicely turned out VW Kombi van... After seeing video footage of the incident leading to the maintenance, it's amazing they were actually able to get back onto the road at all!!



Narrow bridges were the order of the day...


After making it through the Cooloola Way with ease and style, Team Booger Mobile headed into Rainbow Beach for some lunch at the surf club.



Arriving at Rainbow Beach...



Parked at the Rainbow Beach Surf Club...



The view from the surf club...



The driver briefing session for the afternoon section included a tale of woe where one of the official vehicles was drowned in a river crossing that the route was to take... that part of the route was removed, so the entrants all headed up the main road...


Car 88 waiting for their chance to pass...



Team Booger Mobile had arranged to meet a special visitor at this corner...



In a set up photo, it appears that Booger Mobile has been intercepted for 122 in a 100kph zone. Just to be crystal clear, this is a staged photograph!!


The unmarked traffic patrol car was actually driven by Michael, one of the CQ parents from Gympie.



Of course, the look on Ben's face was priceless when Michael grabbed Damian and shoved him into the back of the car just as Ben arrived...



Team Booger Mobile... they're big in Tamworth!!



One more photo... it's a shiny red patrol car, isn't it!!



Damian continued driving through the pine forest... the roads were pretty smooth, except for a few potholes (few and far between in this part of the course).


Little bit of water... not a whole lot...



Pine trees all lined up neatly...



Vroom!!


Once the esCarpade cars reached Maryborough, it was on the bitument out to Hervey Bay.



Past a giant golf ball...



And into Hervey Bay. Not a whole lot of clearance for Booger's head, but it fit (just).


The evening's activities were dinner at the RSL with Red Faces esCarpade style - Damian performed (fairly badly) The Saga of Booger Mobile - without the lyrics and with the chords scribbled on a piece of paper... needless to say, it wasn't his finest moment...

The judges Red, Aquaman and Swampy did a great job... In the end, it was Health in No Hurry who won, with their own song.

Another great night was had. Tomorrow (Wednesday) it's rest day in Hervey Bay. Team Booger Mobile will be heading to the Pialba State School to chat to the kids about Camp Quality - the principal is who the boys got Booger Mobile's engine from... Also on the cards is getting a wheel alignment for Booger Mobile. After this morning's run the steering is heavy and pulling sharply to the left, so no doubt one of the potholes have worked its magic...

Oh, and for the esCarpadians who are reading the blog, here's the original web version of the Saga of Booger Mobile... enjoy!!

4 comments:

  1. Your sure getting your fair share of media attention. Justly deserved.
    Angus.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sharing the love Angus... The Tamworth paper had the passenger side in the paper, the Sunshine Coast one had the driver's side...

    Apparently we were on the news last night - didn't see it up in Hervey Bay.

    --Damian

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  3. Thanks for the updates Damo!! Loving it all!
    :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. that's wonderful updates, printing hervey bay i personally say it was wonderful activity because i attended for my kids.

    ReplyDelete