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OVFIRE is a Brisbane Queensland entrant in Variety Clubs Charity Bash events that helps raise funds for sick children

Day 1

Hervey Bay to Landcruiser Mountain Park

We all got up early to get to the start line (5am), as we had official duties that day and WAS suppose to leave early and miss the start, but since it was announced that we were in the top ten we were allowed to take up our position with the rest of the field. All we had to do was go direct to our first task for the day and miss the bash route. Small price to pay for the glory of everyone knowing we had raised enough money to be there.

The start was at the Hervey Bay shopping centre car park and it filled up quite quickly with bash cars and bashers. We had breakfast and then time to start your engines. So many people lined the start it was hard to wave and acknowledge everyone but it was a proud moment for us. Daryl the virgin basher had no idea what to expect.

Once the excitement was over we headed to our first official duty which was to marshal all the bash cars onto the oval of Howard State School but since we were early we entertained the children, well actually Blazer did. We handed out McDonald’s cookies which was donated by Bracken Ridge McDonald’s (3220 boxes to be exact). Once most of the bash cars came in, the school cut a cake for Variety for thanks of all the work Variety did for the school. Even though this task was over we had to stay at the school for the bash cars that had problems. Some didn’t even get over the start line. After over 2 hours of waiting we got relieved and went to lunch which was at Gayndah State School and had to parade past the whole school before parking. The children went wild with all the cars coming in and again we handed out McDonald’s cookies and Fire Service safety information. Everyone had great manners.

After lunch we had a stop at the Hivesville Hotel where all the virgin bashers get there photo taken. Once they are all together and posing for the camera they  get sprayed with water from above for their  welcome into the Variety family, and yes Daryl got wet.

			“Oh No Trev’s driving again!!! BRACE BRACE BRACE”

Then a nice drive through the forest up into Landcruiser Park where we set up camp for a cold overnight stay in a swag. We thought our duties were over for the night but one of the bashers had a health issue and the Doctors that are on the bash for Variety, decided that they needed urgent attention and wanted to Medic – vac them to hospital to be on the safe side. OV FIRE was asked to help set up the landing site for the helicopter and Lawrence Bell coordinated this request and a happy outcome to the whole issue was achieved (we found out the next day that the basher was fine). Yes, and it was a cold night, but we were not in a swag for long after we finished this request.    

going

going

gone!

Day 2

Landcruiser Mountain Park to Warwick

Today we had our own issue on the truck. Lawrence wasn’t feeling the best so he decided he would head home before we got too far away from Brisbane. We left before the field and dropped Lawrence off at Kilcoy which was on the bash route and his wife came and picked him up. Just to let you know we got a phone call from him late in the afternoon and he is fine. He will be joining us again tomorrow in Warwick on the start line.

We had a rather easy day today. OV FIRE had to visit three schools and Blazer handed out free gifts. The schools were Goombungee State School, Kingsthorpe State School and Pittsworth State School and the children just loved blazer.

Even though we had an easy work day, the roads we went on was not so easy. Some of them you couldn’t call a road but the truck handled it with ease.

After lunch the bash visited two iconic hotels, The Royal at Leyburn and O’Shanley’s Irish Bar in Clifton. They both had a great atmosphere once about 400 bashers and their cars turned up and took over.

Day 3

Warwick to Goondiwindi

As we woke to a chilly and foggy -1 degree morning we had brekky in a local park of Warwick and Variety opened a Liberty Swing that they donated. Caught up with some friends that had been  kidnapped by a team called The Horn Bags and was made up as honouree Horn Bags(Just glad it wasn’t me). Also our team member had come back on board after an early drive up from Brisbane.

We thought we had an easy day with just a school visit and follow the bash route for the day. But were we wrong, we knew we couldn’t do the morning run as it wasn’t suitable for heavy vehicles, so we were going direct to lunch which was only an hour away. We watched the start and then drove around Warwick for awhile and slowly took our time to the lunch stop at Inglewood State School. When we arrived we found out that we had official duties for the day from the Bash Coordinator. We wondered why she was a bit stressed when we arrived and she told us we were doing lunch time check in. Maybe we should of read day 3 official duties instead of day 4. Lucky we still had plenty of to set up and all was good but there goes our easy day.

The lunch was cooked with the help of the children from Inglewood State School (on a Saturday) from their vege garden which the whole school was so proud of. Couldn’t ask for any fresher salad.

We did our official duties and it was a good time to get some teams back from the start line that had sprayed us with water. When will they learn never wet people with 2000 litres of water and a high pressure pump. WE WON!!!!!!! It turned out to be a great day.

Once finished at the school, it was an easy drive into our night stop at Goondiwindi. On the way we had to stop at a local pub to refresh and isn’t it funny who you run into, the Variety clowns.

Day 4

Goondiwindi to Lightning Ridge

No rush to get up today as we have an easy day when it comes to official duties. The temperature was a lot better than yesterday and had a very nice brekkie beside the river. We were asked to do a Random Breath Test on the bashers when they departed. It was good to see everyone is keeping this a safe bash with having their designated drivers.

Drove though the main street of Goondiwindi and woke a few people up on a Sunday morning. Then out to a school at Garah. Some of the students came in and had a great time with the bashers. I think it was worth them coming to school on a Sunday.

It is amazing what you come across on the highway out in the bush. The bears in the woods.

We went into NSW and then back over the border into Queensland  for lunch at a place called Two Mile Hotel where we had a two and a half hour lunch. This gave us enough time to have a water fight with the bashers and what a water fight it was. Think there were no winners today, just everyone got wet. Even the local children got involved.

While we were waiting to get released so we could get back on the road to drive to our night time location we had a visit from Mad Max and a couple of road warriors. It was a great display by them.

It was going to be a quick drive in the afternoon to Lightning Ridge but as usual we came across a couple of cars broken down so we helped them to get back on the road and finally got into Lightning ridge early enough to relax before the night function started. It is rare we get back early to enjoy a relax.

Day 5

Lightning Ridge to Nindigully

Up to an early morning start and no brekky at Lightning Ridge. We had to drive 75 kms into the bush to a place called Sheepyard Flat Inn which is a pub and a opal mine for tourist to dig for opals. This place was pretty cool with working mines and shafts that litter the land. Heaps of old machinery lying around. The guy playing the piano, he  just kept playing the whole time we were there nonstop. He was good too.

deep hole	you hope they are kidding	bet they wish they had a trailor			dirt , outstanding pictorial

As we drove a bit further we came across a stretch of water that is the remainder of the floods from up north at the beginning of the year. You have to remember this area did not get any rain, it has flowed down and now has nowhere to go. They believe it could be another six months before this road may open again. And this is only a small proportion of the water lying around. Truly amazing.

	coookies!

We stopped at a town named Hebal and went to the school to give away some more stuff and had a chat about Fire Safety to some of the children.

	coming	coming	almost there	ahhhh didn't sink

We ventured to the next School at Dirranbandi were they had lunch for us. It was very pleasant and they had the children show us their many talents by putting on Dirranbandi has got talent. They were so good at everything they showed us and kept the bashers wanting more. Well done. Even the lunch was good.

doing it tuff ay

We left lunch early and set up another Random Breath testing site. The bashers had nothing but praise for what we were doing and not one of the drivers went anywhere near the legal limit. This needs to be a safe bash for all.

					Truck!

When we packed up it was off to our overnight stay at Nindigully. We were in early enough to have a look around and there were pig races on for the bashers.

On the roaf again . . .		Im the king of the world!	Oh my		Pig Racers

The theme for this night was “bucks and hens night” as two long time bashers were going to get married. For those who don’t get it, the dollar around my neck is a.... wait for it....A BUCK. It turned out to be a great night.

Day 6

Nindigully to Miles

Woke up to another beautiful morning at Nindigully from a great clear night where you could see so many stars. We had our Variety group photo and the top of OV Fire was where the photo was taken. That was our first official duty for the day.

	Go Blazer GO!	They say country air is good for you , grown men in anumal outfits , I doubt the air is  THAT good!	More disturbing than Dave in a Tu Tu is Dave looking up the skirt of a bear , that isnt wearing one !	You never know what you will open on these photo updates.

We had to take Blazer out to a Teddy Bears picnic where he had a play with some of his mates in the woods. So many bashers stopped to have a play with the bears as well, that it became a fun stop and they stayed for quite some time. Once everyone had enough, we continued on to lunch at Surat State School (More cookies to give away).

			But can we shoot them!

We had to leave early so we could go to our overnight stop at Miles and do the final check in. On the way we had enough time to stop at some hotels, The Royal at Meandarra and the Condamine Hotel at Condamine, were we came across all these Santa’s having a great time but couldn’t stay as we had to go and do our end of day check in. The crew of OV Fire got into the theme and dressed up as well.

	Oh my god! Is that Trevor Smiling ?	Looks like Trevor may actually be smiling , stand back it may be wind!

Day 7

Miles to Cracow

Today we have official duties to carry out, and that was to do the lunch time check out. This allowed us to do the bash route to lunch and had the chance to visit some more schools and chat with the children and hand out some stuff. Yes more McDonald’s cookies and Fire Ed leaflets. We had three schools to go to and they were Wandoan State School, Grosmont State School and Taroom State School. Grosmont State School put on morning tea for us (over 400 bashers) with home baked cakes and sweets (very YUM) and if you believe it, with only six students. It was a pleasure talking to some of them and seeing what it is like at the school.

Once we arrived at the lunch time stop at Taroom State School and another nice meal we went to work at our lunch time check out. Some of the crew found this very arduous and had a nanna nap. We were here for over three hours before we were released and decides to go the direct route to Cracow. We were going to miss the trip though R.M Williams property, The Rocky Bar Homestead and his final resting place, but if we didn’t we would of got in way too late. Friends got some photo’s for us though.

The direct route into Cracow was one of the roughest roads and I am using the word “roads” very loosely, we had been on since the bash started and we were  starting to wonder if we were lost. There was even talk in the truck of who we were going to eat first to survive. Of course we were just mucking around, but I had my vote in. Ha ha. We finally come across some local council workers and yes we did ask for directions. It turned out we were on the right road/track to Cracow but they did make mention that the road/track got even worse. Couldn’t wait!!! Some of the bumps we hit, OV Fire got airborne and now Trev’s new nickname became Top Gun. We did have fun on the way and stopped to try out our survival techniques and trained for rescuing.

 Finally got to Cracow and civilization. We set up camp for the night and time to relax.

Day 8

Cracow to Kingaroy

After a great night at Cracow, we woke to a mild morning and there was no official duties for the day. So the guys off OV Fire carried out another RBT at the start line. There has been nothing but praise from the other bashers about what we did and testing the bashers will now be a permanent part of the bash .

I was asked if I could drive the Top Hat Lounge for the day and the remainder of the crew took a visitor on OV Fire. It was Trish the official Variety photographer. Trish has been on the truck in previous bashers and thinks the truck is a great place to get photo’s from when the bashers pass us. It was a 235km drive through some more rough roads and dust.

At the first check point, the boys acquired another passenger, (kidnapped) one of the teddy bears from OV9. We did have a score to settle with them as they had Blazer for the day without asking. The bear had a great time and OV9 was not happy and wanted it back. It is all in good fun of course.

We did have school visits but one of them was an abandoned school, Aurburn River State School. The buildings seemed pretty new so I am gathering it had not been closed for long. This was a good place to have a fun stop and the game was to tie an orange in a stocking around your waist and by swinging your hips (no hands) had to hit another orange on the ground around a course and be the first back to the start line. It was so funny to watch them concentrate so hard to hit the oranges.

The next school was Chinchilla State School  and had another nice lunch. There was about 490 children very well behaved and a visit from Blazer made them go wild. For being so well behaved they all got stickers balloons and of course.... cookies!!!

The afternoon run was an easy 162kms into Kingaroy and we know this is most properly the last true bash run for this year. Tonight is the awards night and tomorrow will be an easy run to the finish line, I think?

The awards night was held at the Kingaroy Town Hall and after a beautiful sit down meal the awards started. As the night went on some very well deserved people won awards. Then it came to the last award and that was “The Basher of the Year 2011”. The award is for the person who Variety believes has the right spirit for fundraising and helping others to raise funds for the children in need. This was won by.... David Lloyd (Lloydy) from OV Fire. What a surprise and so unexpected. I am so humbled by this. I couldn’t believe it and I had to go on stage to except the award to a standing ovation from all the other bashers and was totally speechless. This is an individual award, but I took it as a team effort and if it was not for the team from OV Fire and others, I couldn’t have achieved what we did for the year.

Once that was all done, Variety announced the top ten fundraisers. OV Fire came in seventh highest fund raiser which is a great effort and accomplishment for the team. The highest Fundraiser was from Scooby Doo car and they raised a huge amount, around $145 000.00. Well done guys from OV Fire. In total from all the bash teams, Variety raised $1.3 Million this year for the children of Queensland. I am so proud to be involved with this great charity.   

Day 9

Kingaroy to Gympie (Gympie Muster)

What an exciting night we had and now back to work. We had one last official duty to perform and that was to marshal the whole bash cars in an area prior to heading into the Gympie Muster so the whole convoy can come in together rather than spaced out across a long time. There was a bit of a discussion if OV Fire could do the morning run. We decided to go for it and after a slow slow crawl up a range we made it to the marshalling area.

Now was a good time to give the bear back to OV9 and all was forgiven.

We had all the cars in and lined up ready for the 32km run into the Muster. The Top Ten was lined up first and OV Fire was in its place, seventh on the grid. This was a good chance to catch up with other bashers while we waited and then came the call to get in the cars and head off.

Travelling through some nice country we turned a corner and WOW!!! We came across a camping area of the Gympie Muster and as far as you could see was caravans and tents. This was only one of many camp sites we passed through and all the bashers made sure the campers knew we were in town. The campers ran to the road side and cheered us in to our finish line. There was so many people and I could tell Daryl was so overwhelmed being his first time but would say all of us thought the same.

As we past the finish line we knew another year was over and we made it without any real issues and would not see some of the people until next year. As we were one of the first in, we could stand at the finish and cheer the rest of the bashers in over the line and congratulate them for finishing. The next couple of hours was the time to catch up and talk about the great times we had on the bash and say goodbye to some that were not staying for the Muster.

Right on cue, once the bash finished, the weather turned and it started to rain. This made the area pretty muddy and sloppy but it’s a bash and everyone took it in their stride. We had entry into the muster and saw some famous artists perform and had a great time.

The day after

Gympie Muster

Woke up to pouring rain and thought it may be a good idea to leave when we still could and a lot of the others thought the same and even then some had trouble getting traction in the mud. It was going to turn into a mud bath very shortly.

In closing for this year, I would like to say a very big thank you to the team of OV Fire (Trev, Lawrence, Daryl and Lloydy), to their families, to all our sponsors and supporters that has helped throughout the year to make this bash possible and everyone else that helped us fundraise for the children in need. A special mention to Rhiannon Jarvis for doing up our logo. Also thanks to OV Fire itself for surviving another year being driven in adverse conditions and keeping the team and other bashers safe.

Thanks to all and see you next year.

2012 - Dalby to Mackay – Cotton to Cane.