“On a car rallye to Marysville, through valleys of green and over a hill, with Mary’s driving, our tits were flying, and Ret didn’t spew, cos she’d taken a pill.”
— Written by Ret Keane, member of the Buick Rallye team.
Thus went the winning limerick on the Goulburn Valley Hospice Care Rallye held last weekend in the beautiful country around the Yarra Ranges.
It was a chilly Saturday morning when 64 vehicles and about 120 participants lined up at the Shepparton Museum of Vehicle Evolution to participate in the 27th running of this important fundraising and fun-filled event.
After getting bushwhacked around Arcadia the group finally made it to Yarck for delicious morning tea provided by the local CWA.
The weather was a little ugly and one could not help feeling sorry for the brave souls in the open-top cars such as the Fiat 501 or the Bugattis.
Lunch was provided by the Kinglake Ranges Lions club at the Kinglake West Recreation Reserve in a bracing 8ºC and light rain. Brrrrr.
The route from Kinglake took us down a narrow winding road towards St Andrews, and this is where the weather really turned it on — rain and hail, or was that light snow?
I think Georgie Castles and her mum, Jill, in the Bugatti are still shivering today.
Eventually, after driving through some stunning country, the participants arrived at Peppers in Marysville, where a warm room and refreshments welcomed everyone.
The dinner that night was at Peppers and the theme was ‘Circus’. The trouble some people went to dressing up for the theme was amazing — from clowns to a “poo patrol”, almost everyone got into the spirit.
Auctions and silent auctions completed the fun and everyone, despite being tired after a big day driving and navigating, had a great time.
Next morning after breakfast we headed to Buxton, Molesworth and then Yea for morning tea. The weather was a little better and the countryside looked stunning, with rolling green hills and autumn colours.
From Yea we headed over the top almost to Seymour via a locality called Highlands, quite a pretty drive. That’s a great thing about the rallye, the route masters take you down some very interesting roads.
Lunch was at the magnificent Flowerdale Estate, where a superb spread was served in what one could argue is one of the prettiest locations and venues in country Victoria.
If you haven’t been there, do yourself a favour, as Molly Meldrum would say.
After awards and presentations (too many to list here), the participants headed off home, exhausted but on a high from such a fun trip.
Winners of the rallye in an Audi Q7 were Will Golding, Chelsea Crouse and Lily Innes-Irons, and the NANA award award went to Reg Qemal in his Commodore.
The amount raised for GV Hospice on this rallye was a staggering $138,464, and since its inception the event has raised about $1 million, an amazing effort and a credit to the organisers, participants and volunteers.
It was encouraging that quite a few participants who had their first rallye last year returned this year, and there were about 25 first-timers this trip.
Ernesto cant wait for next year’s rallye — he might even have his old Valiant Pacer back on the road by then. Fingers crossed!
Footnote
Goulburn Valley Hospice Care is Victorian Government-funded to provide only an ‘office hours’ service, but fundraisers such as this rallye enable it to provide the service 24/7 and purchase much-needed specialist equipment such as wheelchairs, beds and recliners.
Ernesto understands it is the only hospice service in Victoria that provides a 24/7 service, and it was rated as the number one hospice service in Australia in a study performed by the University of Wollongong last year.
See you next year!